Quotable Quotes: Egotism
by Miki Saxon
Seems that leaders everywhere are drowning in egotism; many are going down for the third time and haven’t even noticed. So I thought that I would dedicate today’s Quotable Quotes to egotism—long may it reign rot.
Egotism has to be at the root of the old saying,“He has lulled himself into a false sense of competence.”
Or, as Dan Post said, “Egotism is the glue with which you get stuck in yourself”
Colin Powell warned about a condition I call “ego merge” (I’ll write more about it Tuesday) when he said, “Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.” Obviously that doesn’t happen to the Fulds and Thains of the world.
Then, again, they may have learned the truth of Martin Dansky comment, “If you’ve chosen egocentricity for your career path than you’ve chosen to live with the illusion that your surroundings will serve you continuously.”
Have you ever considered that egotism is a kind of anesthesia? No? Bellamy Brooks and Frank Leahy both came to the same conclusion.
Brooks said, “Egotism is the anesthetic given by a kindly nature to relieve the pain of being a damned fool”
But Leahy was more direct, “Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”
And since we’re on the subject, join me next Sunday for a quotable look at egotism’s co-joined twin, arrogance.
Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs_logic/3556644715/
May 18th, 2010 at 1:16 am
[…] I quoted Colin Powell on this subject and it reminded me of this article. I don’t remember where it was originally […]