Compassion and generosity must be accompanied by detachment. Expecting something in return from these two attitudes is like trading. If the owner of a restaurant is all smiles with his customers, it is not because he really loves them but because he wants to increase his turnover. Neither should we love beings and help them because we find such and such a sympathetic one, but because we see that all beings, no matter whether we consider them as friends or enemies, desire happiness and have the right to find it.
FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA, TENZIN GYATSO (B. 1936)
Oral teachings given in Schvenedingen, Germany, 1998.
https://www.matthieuricard.org/pensees/53
