the most destructive vice that a person can have, more than pride, which is supposedly the number one of the cardinal sins, is self pity. i think self pity is the worst possible emotion anyone can have. it is, to slightly paraphrase what wilde said about hatred (and i think hatred is a subset of self pity, not the other way around) it destroys everything around it except itself. self pity will destroy relationships, it will destroy anything that’s good, it will fulfill all the prophecies it makes and leave only itself. and it is so simple to imagine that one is hard done by and that things are unfair and that one is under appreciated and if only one had had a chance at this and if only one had had a chance at that things would have gone better, you would be happier if only this, that one is unlucky, all those things - and some of them may even be true. but to pity oneself as a result of them is to do oneself an enormous disservice.
