Selflessness

An act of kindness in return of which we do not get anything is regarded as selflessness at its best. Why did those people act in such a way? Did they just do it because they were god fearing; in which case they did it for a spot in paradise. Even the person writing a book on this subject does care to write his name on the cover page. Have we ever done an act of charity without once feeling good about ourselves? Is that little moment of self-praise is all it needs to crumble the notion of selflessness or is it just for the gods and angels to portray this virtue? Or is it just my inability of being that much divine?