Pride And Heroism

All this is easily applied to the present subject.

We sink very much in our own eyes, when in the presence of:

• a great man, or
• one of a superior genius.

This humility makes a considerable ingredient in the respect we pay our superiors. (Book 2, Part 2, Sect. 10).

Sometimes, even envy and hatred arise from the comparison.

But in the greatest part of men, it rests at respect and esteem.

Sympathy has such a powerful influence on the human mind.

It causes pride to have the same effect as merit.

By making us enter into those elevated sentiments which the proud man has of himself, it presents that comparison so mortifying and disagreeable.

Our judgment does not entirely accompany him in his flattering conceit.

But it is still so shaken as to:

• receive the idea it presents, and
• give it an influence above the imagination’s loose conceptions.

A man who imagines a person of superior merit to himself would not be mortified by that thought.

But when we see a man of inferior merit who has extraordinary self-conceit, his pride:

• takes hold of our imagination, and
• reduces us in our own eyes as if he really had all the good qualities he was proud of.

Our idea is here precisely in that medium needed to make it operate on us by comparison.

It would have a contrary effect and operate on us by sympathy:

• if it were accompanied with belief, and if the person appeared to have the same merit which he assumed. That principle’s influence would then be superior to that of comparison, contrary to what happens when the person’s merit seems below his pretensions.

Pride is an over-weaning conceit of ourselves.

The consequence of these principles is that pride must be vicious.

Since it:

• causes uneasiness in all men, and
• always presents a disagreeable comparison to all men.

Our own pride makes us so much displeased with the pride of other people.

Vanity becomes insupportable to us merely because we are vain.

The gay naturally associate themselves with the gay, and the amorous with the amorous.

But the proud can never endure the proud.

They rather seek the company of those who are of an opposite disposition.

Pride is universally blamed and condemned by all mankind because all of us are proud in some degree.

Pride is blamed as having a natural tendency to cause uneasiness in others by means of comparison.

This effect must follow the more naturally. Those who have an ill-grounded conceit of themselves are forever making those comparisons. They do not have any other method of supporting their vanity.

A man of sense and merit is pleased with himself, independent of all foreign considerations. But a fool must always find some person more foolish to stay happy with himself.

It is most laudable when we value ourselves when we really have valuable qualities.

The utility and advantage of any quality to ourselves is a source of virtue and agreeableness to others.

A due degree of pride is most useful to us in life.

This:

• makes us sensible of our own merit, and
• gives us a confidence and assurance in all our projects and enterprises.

A person’s ability is useless if he: does not know it, and cannot form designs suitable to it.

We always need to know our own force. If we were to make a mistake in this, it would be more advantageous to overrate our merit, than to put it below its just standard.

Fortune commonly favours the bold and enterprising. Nothing inspires us with more boldness, than a good opinion of ourselves.

This kind of pride or self-applause is sometimes disagreeable to others. But it is always agreeable to ourselves, just as modesty often produces uneasiness in the modest person, though it gives pleasure to everyone who observes it.

Our own sensations determine:

• the vice and virtue of any quality, and
• those sensations it may excite in others.

Thus, self-satisfaction and vanity are allowable and requisite in a character. However, good-breeding and decency require that we avoid all signs and expressions which directly show vanity.