Rav Henoch Leibowitz: I'm a Good-for-Nothing
When young Rav Henoch Leibowitz called himself a good-for-nothing, his father asked one question that showed such thoughts are the yetzer hara's tool.
Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt’l, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim, related that he once told his father, “I’m a good-for-nothing.” His father, a talmid of the Alter of Slabodka, responded, “Maybe you are right; maybe you are wrong. But do these feelings and thoughts help your avodas Hashem or impede it?” The rosh yeshiva conceded, “They impede it.” His father countered, “Then these thoughts are just a tool of the yetzer ha’ra.”