They have
no self. They live within others. They live second-hand. Look at Peter
Keating. ... I’ve looked at him—at what’s left of him—and it’s helped me to
understand. He’s paying the price and wondering for what sin and telling
himself that he’s been too selfish. In what act or thought of his has there ever
been a self? What was his aim in life? Greatness—in other people’s eyes.
Fame, admiration, envy—all that which comes from others. Others dictated
his convictions, which he did not hold, but he was satisfied that others
believed he held them. Others were his motive power and his prime concern.
He didn’t want to be great, but to be thought great. He didn’t want to build,
but to be admired as a builder. He borrowed from others in order to make an
impression on others. There’s your actual selflessness. It’s his ego that he’s
betrayed and given up. But everybody calls him selfish. ...