Even your kindest act might secretly be self-interest wearing a disguise
Psychological egoism is the claim that every human action, however generous it looks, is ultimately motivated by self-interest: the martyr dies for personal conviction, the donor gives for the warm feeling or social credit. Thomas Hobbes argued in 1651 that even apparent kindness reduces to seeking one's own advantage or avoiding discomfort. Critics object that the theory is unfalsifiable, since any counterexample can always be redescribed as secretly self-interested.