Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness.

From The Passionate State of Mind by Eric Hoffer.

6

To believe that if we could but have this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness.

Shades of Shakespeare:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.