The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals. And have no hope of rising in their own self esteem but by lowering their neighbors.

...and that's when I get to wondering, what would happen if I told her she something good, ever day?

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses.

Or have I passed my time in pouring words like water into empty sieves, rolling a stone up a hill and then down again, trying to prove an argument in the teeth of facts, and looking for causes in the dark, and not finding them?

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
(1778 - 1830)

My self-esteem is not tied to the approval of others.