Maxim

Be humble; pride goes before a fall.

Those who lift themselves up tend to be brought low, while those who hold themselves lightly are trusted and remembered. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but seeing ourselves truly.

Related expressions

• “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

  — Jesus, Matthew 23:12 (KJV)
  Watch on YouTube: The X Factor of Great Leadership | Jim Collins ↗Jim Collins discusses this idea
  Watch on YouTube: BibleProject: The Last Will Be First ↗BibleProject on Jesus' teaching on being first and last
  ChristianityClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: King James Version (public domain)

• “He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines; from self-assertion, and therefore he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged;”

  — Laozi, Tao Te Ching, ch. 22, tr. James Legge
  TaoismAncient (before 200 BCE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (Legge)

• “Ego is the enemy.”

  — Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy (Portfolio/Penguin, 2016) (book title; the phrase also recurs in the text); checked in the Internet Archive scan of that edition
  Echoes Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction”
  Watch on YouTube: Ego is the Enemy | Ryan Holiday (Talks at Google) ↗Ryan Holiday discusses this idea
  Watch on YouTube: Ryan Holiday with Chris Williamson ↗Ryan Holiday on humility and wisdom (Modern Wisdom)
  Modern psychology & self-helpContemporary (1950 – today)relation: similarVerifiedsource

Score

Moral Rank 69.3 · Evidence E = 15.52

E = ln(1+3.07) + √3.07 + 3·2.62 + 1.5·3 = 15.52

How this is scored

Further reading

• Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy (Open Library)