It is important for such people to realize they are thinking in either/or terms: "Either I am perfect, or else I am a failure."
In truth, each area of behavior and personality has numerous levels along a continuum. If you are not perfect, you need not rate yourself as a failure. Focus on improvement, instead of absolute perfection.
It is worthwhile for a person with low self-esteem to write a list of the minimum standards of a basically good person. He is then able to see more objectively whether or not he is meeting those standards.
Rabbi Pliskin's Gateway to Happiness, p.132
I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight.
J. D. Salinger (1919 - )
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of
ourselves.
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)
There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is
to contradict other philosophers.
William James (1842 - 1910)