This is part of the whole “self-esteem is everything” narrative. But self-esteem isn’t everything. And people who love and respect themselves are sometimes great, but sometimes not. Many of the nastiest people in politics and business, parasites doing a great deal of evil for selfish motives, seem in fact very fond of themselves; we can assume that deep down they feel inadequate and are making up for it somehow, but we don’t know that.

While, all else being equal, I’d rather people loved and respected themselves, I’m not convinced it necessarily, or even very often, leads to good behaviour, and I’d rather have people who do good deeds in part out of feelings of inadequacy or obligation than people whose iron self-regard results in wholesale selfishness.