self-preservation
noun/ˌsɛlfˌpɹɛzɜˈɹ.veɪ.ʃən/
Etymology From self- + preservation.
1
The instinctive behavior that protects oneself from harm.
- I'm gonna love me, for the rest of my days / Encourage the babies every time they say / Self-preservation is what's really going on today1976, Candi Staton, “Young Hearts Run Free”, in Young Hearts Run Free:
- I'm here to tell you want to do. And if self-preservation is an instinct you possess, you better fuckin' do it and do it quick.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel):
1 more example
- Yet had the whole train and all its bombs gone, had the engine crew merely jumped from the train and run as simple self-preservation would have suggested, or unhitched just the engine to make their escape faster, the whole town would have gone and most of the people with it, leaving just a smoking wasteland. Hundreds would have died.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43: