For the most part, people are not proud of that which deserves respect, but that which is useless or harmful to them: power and wealth.
There is not a single scoundrel who, after taking the time to look, could not find scoundrels that are in some respects worse than him, and thus he will always find a reason to be pleased with himself.
The one who cannot read or write cannot teach others how to do it; so how can someone who himself does not know what to do tell others what they should do?
— Marcus Aurelius
There are people who begin teaching others immediately after having listened to wise teachings. They are doing the same thing that a sick stomach does when it disgorges food that was only just consumed. Do not imitate such people. Take the time to properly digest what you have heard, and do not disgorge ahead of time—else what will come out is filth that cannot nourish anyone.
— Epictetus
Pride is not the same thing as the recognition of your human dignity. Pride grows in proportion to external success, whereas the recognition of your human dignity, on the contrary, grows in proportion to external humiliation.
The proud person respects not himself, but the opinion that people have of him; a person who recognizes his own dignity respects only himself and despises people’s opinion.
There is still some intellect in a fool who recognizes his own foolishness; but there is certainly no intellect in the one who is firmly convinced of his own wisdom.
— The Dhammapada
A fool can spend his whole life by the side of a sage without becoming any wiser, just as a spoon will never know the taste of food.
— The Dhammapada
The one in love with himself has the advantage of having few rivals.
— Lichtenberg
An arrogant person is always limited. Each one is the cause of the other. He is always limited because he is arrogant. He is arrogant because he is limited. He recognizes his inability to do good and therefore he convinces himself that everything he does is good.
At first, pride perplexes people so much that they yield to suggestion and begin ascribing the same importance to a proud person that he ascribes to himself; but the suggestion fades, and soon the proud person becomes ridiculous.
