Narcissism

"So I hang on to my ego and simply hope that so long as we do a good deed, we can pretty well skip our motive."
~ From the novel: The Education of Oscar Fairfax by Louis Achincloss

So is he saying the means justifies the beginning and the end? I'm assuming the "good deed" is the means.

I know I've written on this topic before, recently in fact. Does it matter if we give to make us feel good, to make us feel like good people?

If everyone did good deeds (no matter what the motives) everyday, all day, all month, all year, would it make this world a better place?

Of course, doing a good deed for one person, one group, one country, may be detrimental to some other group.

I think I just have to go with my conscience on this. My conscience is pretty sharp; I have the stab marks to prove it. But then, that's just my ego speaking.