The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.
Ingersoll's story of the man that went down from heaven on a reduced-rate excursion ticket good for 30 days --- and tried to sell his return ticket.
In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?