He was defeated in his selfish purpose.

他自私的打算失败了。

youdao

Bottom line: Being single is not unacceptable by any means. What's unacceptable is seeking a relationship for the sole purpose of having one. It's also selfish.

写在最后：单身绝不是不可接受的。不可接受的是，仅为了谈恋爱而去谈恋爱。这同样自私。

youdao

In fairy tales love inspires you to be noble and courageous, but in real life love is just an all purpose excuse for selfish behavior.

在童话故事中，爱情让人变得无私，变得勇敢，但在现实生活中，爱只不过是自私行为的万用借口。

youdao

Thus, the selfish pursuit of profit serves a social purpose.

ECONOMIST: Capitalism and ethics

What we really want is not selfish self-consciousness but selfless spontaneity, and the reason why purpose is so motivating is it draws us up and out of ourselves to a place where we escape our petty prison of selfishness.

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