There is no more despicable coward than the man who deserted the battle for his
joy, fearing to assert his right to existence, lacking the courage and the
loyalty to life of a bird or a flower reaching for the sun. Discard the
protective rags of that vice which you call a virtue: humility—learn to value
yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness—and when you learn that
pride is the sum of all virtues, you will learn to live like a man.
Humility and presumptuousness are always two sides of the same premise, and
always share the task of filling the space vacated by self-esteem in a
collectivized mentality. The man who is willing to serve as the means to the
ends of others, will necessarily regard others as the means to his ends.
Self-abasement is the antithesis of morality. If a man has acted immorally, but
regrets it and wants to atone for it, it is not self-abasement that prompts
him, but some remnant of love for moral values—and it is not self-abasement
that he expresses, but a longing to regain his self-esteem. Humility is not a
recognition of one’s failings, but a rejection of morality. “I am no good” is a
statement that may be uttered only in the past tense. To say: “I am no good” is
to declare: “—and I never intend to be any better.”