Pride

“ You take in lieu, shun spiritual pride!
A pride there is of rank—a pride of birth,
A pride of learning, and a pride of purse,
A London pride—in short, there be on earth
A host of prides, some better and some worse;
But of all prides, since Lucifer's attaint,
The proudest swells a self-elected Saint.
To picture that cold pride so harsh and hard,
Fancy a peacock in a poultry yard.
Behold him in conceited circles sail,
Strutting and dancing, and now planted stiff,
In all his pomp of pageantry, as if
He felt "the eyes of Europe" on his tail! ”

“ Look downward where an hundred realms appear—
8 Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide,
The pomp of kings, the shepherd’s humbler pride.
When thus Creation’s charms around combine,
Amidst the store should thankless pride repine?
Say, should the philosophic mind disdain
That good which makes each humbler bosom vain?
Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can,
These little things are great to little man;
And wiser he whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind. ”

“ Pride in the glorious foretime of the race and in its heroes sustains in the individual man who is called to public duty, the personal pride which makes him feel that all his affections and all his emotions stand rooted in the sense of honour, which is, for the man and for the nation, the foundation of all virtue. ”

“ Tell me, has pride gone with you there?
Does a frail white form before you stand,
And tremble to earth, beneath your stare?
No, no!--she is strong in her pureness now,
And Love to Power no more defers. ”

“ There is a natural light from the glory arising from pride, and also from glory that is not from pride. Light from the glory arising from pride is in those who are in the love of self, and thence in all manner of evils ”

“ They are declared to thee by one who knows thy dignity, for every hour does his heart swell with honourable pride in the contemplation of what thou mayest attain—by one who is not forgetful of thy degeneracy, for every moment brings home to him the bitter conviction of what thou art. ”

“ Nor weak their sense of honour's proud control,
For pride is virtue in a Pagan soul;
A sense of worth, a conscience of desert,
A high, unbroken haughtiness of heart;
That self-same stuff which erst proud empires sway'd,
Of which the conquerors of the world were made.
Capricious fate of man! that very pride
In Afric scourg'd, in Rome was deify'd.
No Muse, O [2] Qua-shi! shall thy deeds relate,
No statue snatch thee from oblivious fate! ”

“ But if pride were banished even from the remainder of Life, how poor would the artists be left! For every gesture that is beautiful, all free, spirited, swift movement and all noble repose have in them pride. Humility uglifies, except, indeed, the humility which is a form of pride ”

“ There was pride at the bottom of it, a proud conceit of their own merit, a proud contempt of their brethren, and a proud desire of honour and preferment; pride is a sin that most easily besets us, and which it is hard to get clear of. It is a holy ambition to strive to excel others in grace and holiness; but it is a sinful ambition to covet to exceed others in pomp and grandeur. Seekest thou great things for thyself, when thou hast just now heard of thy Master's being mocked, and scourged, and crucified? ”

“ there are many kinds of pride," said Biddy, looking full at me and shaking her head; "pride is not all of one kind——"
"Well? ”

“ And our youth only lays up sighs for age.
But how, my muse, canst thou resist so long
The bright temptation of the courtly throng,
Thy most inviting theme? The court affords
Much food for satire;—it abounds in lords.
"What lords are those saluting with a grin?"
One is just out, and one as lately in.
"How comes it then to pass we see preside
On both their brows an equal share of pride?"
Pride, that impartial passion, reigns through all,
Attends our glory, nor deserts our fall.
As in its home it triumphs in high place,
And frowns a haughty exile in disgrace. ”

“ What is pride? Is it not self-esteem; self-appreciation and valuation; self-respect and reliance; nobleness, independence and dignity?
A proud-spirited person excites in us something of [Pg 21] that feeling of respect and admiration we have for a spirited, mettlesome horse.
But to possess true spirit and personal pride, we must possess points of real or imagined merit; of education, accomplishments, personal beauty, or mental, or physical superiority. How can a person of scanty information—ignorant of the world and its doings, carry a proud bearing with a high and noble spirit? ”

“ None his superior, and his equals few:—
But, if that spirit in his soul had place,
It was the jealous pride that shuns disgrace:
A pride in honest fame, by virtue gain'd,
[Pg 210]
In sturdy boys to virtuous labours train'd;
Pride in the power that guards his country's coast,
450
And all that Englishmen enjoy and boast;
Pride in a life that slander's tongue defied,—
In fact, a noble passion, misnamed pride. ”

“ All pride is founded on what we think we are,—are in attained and perfect being; and thus pride is in itself vain and contradictory,—for that which is our true being,—that to which endless growth belongs,—is precisely that to which we have not yet attained. ”

“ For since pride, which is the beginning of all sin, instigates us to vainglory, or the love of our own honour, praise, and pre-eminence, it will be wise in us to dispel the pestilent humour, by referring all praise and glory to him who alone is of himself truly holy and great, and therefore alone is justly to be praised and glorified. ”

“ The pride of my heart, a pride that I do not seek to extinguish, leads me to prefer an honest independence, in however mean a station, to the most splendid, and the most silken bondage.
Why should not he that is born a nobleman be also born a man? ”

“ Your virtues, and the graces of mind and character upon which you pride yourself—your strength and composure, your patience and devotion to duty, your honesty, your justice, your purity—all these belong not only to yourself but to the society which has produced you and of which you are a part. ”

“ Pride, like the eagle, builds her nest on high, bringing forth whole broods of loveless, preying passions, hatreds, jealousies, and hypocrisies. Pride sees no brotherhood [342] in man; humanity to her means no more than so many serfs to wait upon her pleasure, or so many victims for her sacrifice! And how Jesus loved to prick these bubbles of airy nothings, showing up these vanities as the very essence of selfishness! ”

“ But if you give your minds to the sin of pride,
Vanish shall your virtue, your honour away will slide.
For pride is hated of God above,
And meekness soonest obtaineth his love.
To your rulers and parents be you obedient,
Never transgressing their lawful commandment.
Be ye merry and joyful at board and at bed:
Imagine no traitory against your prince and head.
Love God, and fear him, and after him your king,
Which is as victorious as any is living. ”

“ Loving or feeble natures need a positive religion, a visible refuge, a protection, as much in the passionate season of youth as in those stages nearer to the grave. But mine is not such. My pride is superior to any feelings I have yet experienced: my affection is strong admiration, not the necessity of giving or receiving assistance or sympathy. ”

“ Pride, indeed, pervaded the whole man, was written in the harsh, rigid lines of his face, was marked by the way in which he walked, in which he sate, in which he stood, and, above all, in which he bowed. ”

“ Pride is handsome, economical: pride eradicates so many vices, letting none subsist but itself, that it seems as if it were a great gain to exchange vanity for pride. ”

“ He that is proud eats up himself. Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed devours the deed in the praise. ”

“ Pride, on the contrary, would willingly close its eyes to this salutary and humbling truth; it looks upon whatever it possesses as its own, as the fruit of its own labour and merit; it is prone to magnify its gifts, and to consider them to be greater than they really are, while on the other hand it is blind to the good qualities of others. ”

“ Whose Pride would soar to Heav'n without a Call?
Pride (of all others the most dangerous Fau't,)
Proceeds from Ignorance, and want of Thought,
The Men, who labour and digest things most,
Will be much apter to despond, than boast. ”

“ In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. ”

“ Pride, on the other hand, is a repelling, separating force. Scorning those who occupy the lower places, she is contented only on her Olympian summit, where she keeps herself warm with the fires of her self-adulation. ”

“ We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, “Oh, nothing!” Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts—not to hurt others. ”

“ As these pompous epithets are but the figurative expression of pride, and pride is inherent in the heart of man, it may naturally be supposed that this sentiment has lost none of its force, in the twelve or fifteen centuries which have since elapsed. ”

“ Even so it was, when the serpent breathed the poison of his pride, the desire to be as God, into the hearts of our first parents, that they too fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man is now sunk. In heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth, and the curse, of hell. ”

“ The first and grossest envy is, to see others surpass me in temporal goods of wealth, honour, and dignity, favour with princes, beauty of body, and other such excellences. This is proper to worldlings, and springs from that pride which in the eighth meditation we called worldly pride. ”

“ Don't you think your pride offends your Creator, to whom everyone is equally precious? For God created us all from the dust, to keep His commandments and thereby glorify Him forever.
This is all I will say about your pride. If I did not have to speak to you about a more serious sin, my heart would rejoice greatly because of you. ”

“ The naïve, unconditional contemners of pride, who plead with men to cast it out, have certainly no idea what would happen if they were obeyed. For pride is the condition of all fruitful action. This thought must be consciously or subconsciously present in the doer, What I do is of value! ”

“ The face in which pride testifies shall be filled with confusion. They shall not only fall, but fall in their iniquity, the saddest fall of any. Their pride kept them from repenting of their iniquity, and therefore they shall fall in it. ”

“ Increase this charity, and the pride still lessens; till, at length, it is almost literally true, as the Apostle divinely expresses it, that, in lowliness of mind, each esteems other better than himself; better, in respect to knowledge, as to every thing else.
6. Lastly, charity, not only by its qualities, but in the very nature of things, is destructive of all pride. For what is pride, but an immoderate love of ourselves? And what is charity, but a fervent love of other men? It is the same passion of love, only directed to different objects. ”

“ Did the proud man but rightly consider what kind of ingredients pride is composed of and fed with, and the unstable foundation, and the tottering pinnacle upon which it stands, he would blush at the thoughts of it, and cease to be puffed up by the little supernumerary advantages, whether of birth, fortune, or title, which he may enjoy above his neighbours. ”

“ Pride steps in and leads him to everything that the laws do not forbid: he respects them; with a heart-felt gratitude he looks toward the east, toward that insular government from whose wisdom all his new felicity is derived, and under whose wings and protection he now lives. These reflections constitute him the good man and the good subject. ”

“ In short, you may possibly break such a heart, but you can never bend it. Great pride always accompanies delicacy, however concealed under the appearance of the utmost gentleness and modesty, and is the passion of all others the most difficult to conquer. ”

“ Pride is portrayed by the holding high of the head, with the figure
straight and stiff. Patience is a long breathing, impatience
short breathing, desire is thirst or paleness. Pardon is expressed
by a throng of metaphors borrowed from the idea of covering, of
hiding, of coating over the fault. ”

“ But pride is a word of such dubious meaning, so undefined in its sense, and strained to such various imports, that you shall hear it violently execrated by one, and warmly applauded by another——this denouncing it as a sin of the first magnitude, and that maintaining it to be the most vigilant guardian of human virtue. ”

“ Stories of wise and honest statesmanship, of struggle with primitive conditions, of generous love and sacrifice, and—in some measure—of physical courage, form a subtle and powerful influence for pride in one's people, the intimate sense of kinship with one's own nation, and the desire to serve it in one's own time. ”

“ There is a certain noble pride through which merits shine brighter than through modesty. ”

“ The passions of pride and humility, as well as those of love and hatred, are connected together by the identity of their object, which to the first set of passions is self, to the second some other person. ”

“ We rise in glory, as we sink in pride:
Where boasting ends, there dignity begins:
And yet, mistaken beyond all mistake, 510
The blind Lorenzo’s proud—of being proud; ”

“ 'How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another?' As we see how in their very nature pride and faith are irreconcilably at variance, we shall learn that faith and humility are at root one, and that we never can have more of true faith than we have of true humility; we shall see that we may indeed have strong intellectual conviction and assurance of the truth while pride is kept in the heart, but that it makes the living faith, which has power with God, an impossibility. ”

“ In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies; ”