Explore "Confessions of a Conceited Man" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When I was a boy, the schoolmaster succeeded in impressing upon my mind the truth of that common saying -- "If a man thinks nothing of himself, no one will think any thing of him. " The pedagogue believed it himself, and his daily deportment was based upon it. Whether I learned any thing else of him I cannot now say; but I am sure I learned to set a high value upon myself.
At the age of eighteen, I found myself in the service of an eminent merchant of Boston, in the capacity of assistant bookkeeper, on the paltry salary of four hundred dollars a year. I was worth more -- I was sure of it. But perhaps my employer had not yet come to a knowledge of the treasure he possessed in me, and I wisely determined to wait till I had a better opportunity to distinguish myself.