self-regard

He was resented for puncturing euphemisms of communal self-regard.

This level of self-regard in a writer and thinker as justifiably exalted as Smith may explain why our nation is turning on reading: aristocracies breed resentment among the proles.

Greene is “a powerful free agent with considerable self-regard and a big chip on her shoulder,” Karni wrote, adding she “appears to feel no obligation to anyone in Washington.”

Hawke doesn’t overload their delicate dances or any of his other scene partnerships with an insistence on pulling the spotlight, true to his character’s unspoken self-regard as a guide who happens to investigate his curiosities.

The entire movie has a disappointing air of smug self-regard about it, with an expectation the audience will adore everything about the characters as much as they do.