The term "pride" refers to both a virtue and a feeling. As a virtue, pride is a dedication to achieving one's highest potential—or, as Rand has described it (), a "moral ambitiousness." This virtue requires a commitment to becoming fully integrated, to eliminating our character flaws, to achieving the highest moral state of which we are capable. On the one hand, pride (like justice) entails accepting credit for one's past achievements and for the moral character that one has built through consistent practice of the virtues. On the other hand, pride requires that we aspire to strive for "the best within us" (to borrow Rand's phrase) in all our future actions. Like productiveness, the virtue of pride is a component of self-actualization. While productiveness is directed toward shaping the outer world in the image of one's values, pride is directed toward shaping one's inner world.     

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