Sacrifice

Sacrifice does not mean the rejection of the evil for the sake of the good, but of the good for the sake of the evil. Sacrifice is the surrender of that which you value in favor of that which you don't.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 941

A sacrifice is the surrender of a value. Full sacrifice is full surrender of all values. If you wish to achieve full virtue, you

must seek no gratitude in return for your sacrifice, no praise, no love, no admiration, no self-esteem, not even the pride of being virtuous; the faintest trace of any gain dilutes your virtue. If you pursue a course of action that does not taint your life by any joy, that brings you no value in matter, no value in spirit, no gain, no profit, no reward - if you achieve this state of total zero, you have achieved the ideal of moral perfection. You are told that moral perfection is impossible to man - and by this standard, it is. You cannot achieve it so long as you live, but the value of your life and of your person is gauged by how closely you succed in approaching that ideal zero which is death.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 941