An estimate of one’s own value, ability, beauty, etc. A fairly generous self-esteem is often taken to be a principal ingredient in happiness. John Milton also thought that a ‘pious and just honouring of ourselves’ stood next to love of God as the ‘fountain head whence every laudable and worthy enterprise issues forth’. If you do not feel yourself adequate to the task in hand, you will be less likely to undertake it. A decent self-esteem is also a protection against allowing oneself to sink to demeaning or unworthy conduct. On the other hand, an over-estimate of oneself and one’s capacities is also a royal road to disaster. An estimate of oneself is better if it is accurate than if it is depressed by humility or inflated by pride or vanity. See also amour propre, conceit, narcissism.