The ultimate goal of the arriviste's aspirations is not to acquire a thing of value, but to be more highly esteemed than others. He merely uses the thing as an indifferent occasion for overcoming the oppressive feeling of inferiority which results from his constant comparisons.

L. Coser, trans. (1973), pp. 55-56 - Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912)