We typically think that pride is merely a deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s achievements. But there is another side of pride – an insidious competitive side. Like a coin, pride has two sides, boasting and comparing. 

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis highlights the other side of pride, namely the competitive side. 

“Pride is essentially competitive—Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”

C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

According to Lewis, we’re not just proud that we are successful, intelligent, good-looking, but our pleasure comes from being more than the other person. We lose all satisfaction the moment someone more successful, more intelligent, and better looking comes along. This proves, to Lewis’ point, our pleasure was not in those things but rather on the competitive edge we had over the person.

Pride is the pleasure of having more than the next person. 

Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness