Thesis: Acts of altruism and philanthropy have been praised and condemned by literary titans for centuries. The author Ayn Rand quotes “It is altruism that has corrupted and perverted human benevolence...”. This assertion is not only erroneous, but naive and a detriment to human kind. Selfishness and greed are the downfall of humanity. But it is love and compassion that redeems us. French artist, poet, and novelist Victor Hugo writes something else entirely in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, “Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.”