"Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves."
— Claude Hopkins
Remember That The People You Address
Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves.
About this quote
From Scientific Advertising (1923), in Hopkins's chapter on understanding the reader. Hopkins argued that effective copy never appeals to the advertiser's interests — it presents only what the reader will gain. He considered this selfish orientation of the reader not a flaw but a fact of human nature to be worked with, not against. This reorientation away from the seller's perspective remains a foundational principle of copywriting.
Source
Scientific Advertising