“The most altruistic man is the most selfish.” - Abraham Lincoln

As I research if whistleblowers, standing for high ethics are reaching-out as altruists, I came across the Abraham Lincoln reference to altruism parallel to selfishness of some sort, at least aiming peace of mind.

It made me gauge what past and intended gestures where the most full-filling and also the least the least in my interest.

Is their any relation to draw from those Lincoln times, how much of the US Civil “secession” War Northern fighters gave their lives as the ultimate altruism gesture at total loss and pain for themselves ?

Do we have a chance to reach a civilisation maturity where grades of altruism (parallel to ethics) may not be measured against how much self interest would drive us or having to prove how much altruist actions cost to us, eventually how much resources are we ready to invest to reach ultimate sacrifice levels (Yet stay alive) for how much “good” can be generated away from self interest ?

https://medium.com/@abecollier/maybe-its-better-to-be-a-little-selfish-in-doing-good-7e097b6ece45