Full Idea
Though no creature can be called good merely for possessing the self-preserving affections, it is impossible that public good can be preserved without them; so that a creature wanting in them is wanting in natural rectitude, and may be esteemed vicious.
Gist of Idea
Self-interest is not intrinsically good, but its absence is evil, as public good needs it
Source
3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit [1699], II.I.III)
Book Reference
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.180
A Reaction
Aristotle held a similar view (Idea 92). I think maybe Shaftesbury was the last call of the Aristotelians, before being engulfed by utilitarians and Kantians. This idea is at the core of capitalism.
Related Idea
Idea 92 Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others [Aristotle]