Theophan the Recluse, writing to a young Russian society lady:
Such a life is the life of the fallen man, whose primary characteristic is pride or egoism, which presents itself as the primary goal, while everyone and everything else are the means. Thus, everyone's goal is to impose his desires on someone else, or to bind him by them; you have quite accurately called this 'tyranny.' No matter how well someone conceals his desires, behind them stands egoism, which desires to twist you to its needs, or to use you as its means. So the goal is one of deception; essentially, it uses the strained contrivance of concealing one's faults without correcting them. Otherwise, one's influence on others and manipulation would be stopped. That is the reason that everyone exudes such coldness: everyone shuts himself up in his own shell and is unable to produce any warmth.
Related words from Pascal:
We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. . . And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence.
