The proud man does not always feel himself at his ease in the company of his equals, and still less in that of his superiors.
 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). copy citation

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Author Adam Smith
Source The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Topic ease feeling
Date 1759
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments

Context

“It outshines, perhaps, his own. It provokes his indignation as an insolent assumption of a rank which is by no means due; and he never talks of it without loading it with the harshest and severest reproaches. The proud man does not always feel himself at his ease in the company of his equals, and still less in that of his superiors. He cannot lay down his lofty pretensions, and the countenance and conversation of such company overawe him so much that he dare not display them. He has recourse to humbler company, for which he has little respect, which he would not willingly chuse;” source