use, to utter evil, I am not sure
but that the thoughtlessly meek and self-sacrificing spirit of good men
must be named as one of the fatallest. They have so often been taught
that there is a virtue in mere suffering, as such . . . that they
accept pain and defeat as if these were their appointed portion; never
understanding that their defeat is not the less to be mourned because
it is more fatal to their enemies than to them."

67. You are told you should love your neighbour as yourself; but if you
love yourself meanly, childishly, timidly, even so shall you love your
neighbour. Learn therefore to love yourself with a love that is wise
and healthy, that is large and complete. This is less easy than it
would seem. There is more active charity in the egoism of a strenuous
clairvoyant soul than in all the devotion of the soul that is helpless
and blind. Before you exist for others it behoves you to exist for
yourself; before giving, you first must acquire. Be sure that, if
deeply considered, more value attaches to the particle of consciousness
gained than to the gift of your entire unconsciousness. Nearly all the
great things of this world have been done by men who concerned
themselves not at all with ideas of self-sacrifice. Plato's thoughts
flew on--he paused not to let his tears fall with the tears of the
mourners in Athens; Newton pursued his experiments calmly, nor left
them to search for objects of pity or sorrow; and Marcus Aurelius above
all (for here we touch on the most frequent and dangerous form of
self-sacrifice) Marcus Aurelius essayed not to dim the brightness of
his own soul that he might confer happiness on the inferior soul of
Faustina. And if this was right in the lives of these men, of Plato and
Newton and Marcus Aurelius, it is equally right in the life of every
soul; for each soul has, in its sphere, the same obligations to self as
the soul of the greatest. We should tell ourselves, once and for all,
that it is the first duty of the soul to become as happy, complete,
independent, and great as lies in its power.' Herein is no egoism, or
pride. To become effectually generous and sincerely humble there must
be within us a confident, tranquil, and clear comprehension of all that
we owe to ourselves. To this end we may sacrifice even the passion for
sacrifice; for sacrifice never should be the means of ennoblement, but
only the sign of our being ennobled.

68. Let us be ready to offer, when necessity bec