Egoists

We hear sometimes people speak of someone as: "He is such an egoist. Always wants others to praise him". This in reality is a contradiction. An egoist is a person who is self-centered, who has (perhaps too much) self-confidence. Such a person wouldn't care if others talk about him or not - he is almost self-contained and doesn't depend on others emotionally. In contrast, if somebody needs others' praise, it usually means that he values them more highly than himself. Whatever this implies, it is not an oversupply of ego.

Of course, there are diehard egoists who love praise even though they don't actually need it. But even in this case, the two sentences (1. He is an egoist 2. Always wants others to praise him) are independent and the second is not an explanation of the first.

So in majority of the cases what should be said is: "He has too little ego. Always wants others to praise him"

Winners vs Losers

This is a thought from months back. I saw somewhere the quote "Winners don't do different things. They just do things differently". If winners are people who do the same things as losers but in a different way, it would turn out that losers are people who do the same things as winners but in a different way. Then what is the difference between them?

Well, as the quote itself is rather stupid (how can you define a winner? A person who is happy or a person who appears to be happy or a person who others feel ought to be happy?), the thought was not exactly revolutionary and there was no need to go further. Still, I felt good.