The seemingly trite words “self-esteem” are at the very core of human adaptation. They do not represent an extra self-indulgence, or a mere vanity, but a matter of life and death. The qualitative feeling of self-value is the basic predicate for human action…. Unlike the baboon who gluts himself only on food, man nourishes himself mostly on self-esteem. —ERNEST BECKER, The Birth and Death of Meaning
