Respect For Self

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion than on the opinion of others. For if a god or a wise teacher should present himself to a man and bid him to think of nothing and to design nothing which he would not express as soon as he conceived it, he could not endure it even for a single day. So much more respect have we for what our neighbors think of us than for what we think of ourselves.
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Chapter XII, 4)
28 May 2015