"In trying to get some insight into his own personality, a man may use still another method. Lord Macaulay somewhere remarks that an author ought to strike out, in his manuscript, every sentence which pleases him particularly because, says he -- and Macaulay knew something of writing and style -- this sentence is sure to be bad. This advice may be applied also to the study of one's personality. It is quite useful to analyze such actions we feel particularly proud of; maybe this gratification of our pride and our vanity is not the effect just of the beauty or goodness of our action; it may result as well from this action giving satisfaction to some of the more undesirable qualities of our self."

Taken from: Self Improvement, by Rudolf Allers, M.D. Ph.D. Roman Catholic Books