On Pages 29 and 30 of her book, The Virtues of Selfishness, Ayn Rand living the virtue of Pride entails: "And, above all, it means one's rejection of the role of a sacrificial animal, the rejection of any doctrine that preaches self-immolation as a moral virtue or duty."
Erich Hoffer in The True Believer expounds on the true believer seeking utter self-renunciation, as escape from freedom into the cause that he idolizes, requiring his complete allegiance, his total self-renunciation, his complete oneness with his cause, his willingness to sacrifice himself, even die for his holy cause.
This is what she is warning against, and it is one of her finest criticisms of self-sacrifice.
Now, there are superheroes--even divinities like Jesus or Frodo in fiction--that self-sacrifice to save the entire community or race, but that is a noble and rare self-sacrifice, and is commendable and exemplary. On a slightly lower moral plain, many veterans get wounded, die or suffer from PTSD in service of their country. These types of self-sacrifice are honorable
Most self-sacrifice, especially what Rand is worried against, occurs when people sacrifice themselves to run away from a self and sordid life that they cannot cope with, or are rebelling against the call from God, to responsibility to be all one can be in service of De.
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