Here is what was actually said:
The greatest and most important thing individuals can (and ought to) do is strive to make the world a better place for all, even if their own self-interest suffers for it.She is describing an individual's voluntary disavowal of selfishness in pursuit of an aspiration- just as Franklin did.
EP:
There is a big difference between voluntary donation and generosity (Franklin) and societal necessity to sacrifice self-interest (Lenin) though this difference can get blurred in some mindsAs happened here, for example? ;-)
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
