The Ego...What Would "I" Do Without It...
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
Being Egotistical is unhealthy and unwholesome...However from what I gather this so-called Ego also serves a beneficial purpose...Hmm so one shouldn't throw it out with the bath water...so to speak.... 
It is not so much that we have a Self...It's that we do Self-ing...The Self has no inherent, unconditional, absolute existence apart from the network of causes it arises from, in, and as....
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One is simply one's experience...One's ego is the abstraction from these experiences...One's ego should be viewed as a convenient analytic device...
The first five sense door consciousnesses "input" ... Thank you for what experience "I AM" about to receive
The sixth consciousness "processing" experience ...Hmm Maybe...Maybe not
The seventh consciousness (AKA Ego) "abstraction from the experiences of five & six, which is then expressed (back at ya) with the assistance of the eighth "...The eighth consciousness "the storage and redistribution centre of repeated experiences... "
Paradoxically, it takes time to become what we already are,,,
Don't quote me on any of this as "I" can't always be trusted 
A Guide To Getting Over Your "self"
What's your ego's take on itself ?
Comments
I love myself,
I think I'm grand -
I often sit
and hold my hand;
I slip my arm
Around my waist -
I get so fresh, I slap my face!
Frankly, I'm happy to have my Ego fried, poached or boiled.... However, more often than not, it's served scrambled.
Shine. With a dark light emptier.
Have Real qualities finer.
Be a Bodhisattva Bodhi.
Do without being undone.
Move still without rippling.
Shine like a Buddha in every direction.
I'll join.
I would not trust it voice an opinion. Fortunately I have a partially integrated persona, I know myself sufficiently to avoid many of its guiles which I am happy to list until the cows go Mu.
Ego
and that spells QUCO, which it is (cuckoo)
... fine without it ...
The ego is sneaky, and can pop up when least expected....Life can be flowing along quite nicely, then all of a sudden boom Dukkha strikes..
The goal can be simpllfied down to: "non-attachment to ego". We need a basic, functional "self" to deal with the world on an everyday basis, as did the Buddha. The problems come in when we over-identify with self, or ascribe admirable qualities (or unduly negative ones) to ourself in self-flattery, and develop pride, etc. Getting too wound up in a self image that we conjure up, can be our downfall.
Our self is just a vehicle that we use for navigating life,
Very well put @Dakini
For vehicle, I tend to use persona. The Buddha obviously had personhood/ego/ordinary being. Unless he was made of moonbeams ... which is silly.
Subtle flattery, excessive negation, unreal attribution, unhealthy morbidity and overly indulgent analysis ... Pah!
Even the enlightened Buddhas have an ego. Even moonbeams have a source, travel, arrival and expiry date...
"Self" is a demonic mind. -Nagarjuna
Compassion is a mind that savors only mercy and love for all sentient beings. -Candrakirti