Conscience makes egotists of us all.

It's human; we all put self interest first.

All of us yearn for the highest wisdom, but we have to rely on ourselves in the end.

We are all, even the best of us, egotists and self-deceivers, and without a little comfortable make-believe to clothe us we should freeze in the outer winds.

[E]veryone is orthodox to himself…

Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts.

Since every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.

And that’s a great lesson for all of us. We think everyone’s head is where our head is. If we think everyone’s head is where our head is, we’re just talking to ourselves.

As Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner reminds us, The young child is totally egocentric — meaning not that he thinks selfishly only about himself, but to the contrary, that he is incapable of thinking about himself. The egocentric child is unable to differentiate himself from the rest of the world; he has not separated himself out from others or from objects. Thus he feels that others share his pain or his pleasure, that his mumblings will inevitably be understood, that his perspective is shared by all persons, that even animals and plants partake of his consciousness. In playing hide-and-seek he will “hide” in broad view of other persons, because his egocentrism prevents him from recognizing that others are aware of his location. The whole course of human development can be viewed as a continuing decline in egocentrism.2

Everyone ends up moving alone towards the self

All that we are is the result
of what we have thought.

We live together, we act on, and react to one another; but always, and in all circumstances, we are by ourselves.

Each man is everything to himself, for with his death everything is dead for him. That is why each of us thinks he is everything to everyone. We must not judge nature by ourselves, but by its own standards.

Each of us is indeed alone.