Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
The best of us are not exempt from egotistical thoughts.
That was the trouble with being an island; one forgot there was anything going on beyond its shores.
Your problem isn't making bad choices. It's that you identify the good choice and then intentionally do the opposite. You see, behind this boorish bravado of yours is a paralysing fear
of letting anyone into your life. And it isn't because you weren't loved when you were a kid. You're so egocentric that the love wasn't enough. So you pulled pigtails and you pushed the fat kids into the dirt so no one could ignore little Perry. Well, little Perry is now 40 years old and is so invested in this narcissistic notion of yourself as "loner" that you can't quit. And you'll just keep dumping on everyone around you until eventually, and please, trust me on this, there won't be anyone left.
Egotist — a person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
I worshipped you too much. I am punished for it. You worshipped yourself too much. We are both punished.
When you love someone... I believe you should be unselfish enough to give them whatever they want.
The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the possession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets.
You're not sorry to go, of course. With people like us our home is where we are not.