On Self-Esteem:

The beginning and sum of the passions is unholy self-esteem...I am vainglorious when I fast, and when I relax the fast in order to be unnoticed...When well dressed I am quite overcome by vainglory, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again... A vainglorious person wants to please not God but men...The fast of the vainglorious person is without reward and his prayer is futile because he does both for the praise of men. A vainglorious ascetic is cheated both ways: he exhausts his body and gets no reward...It is not he who depreciates himself who shows humility, but he who maintains the same love for every man who reproaches him.

St. John Climacus