Hubris is a character trait seen in many of the greatest stories ever written, ranging from Greek Mythology to the big news events of our time. Hubris is also known as being overly confident. We admire and look up to confident people, but in excess it can become a fatal flaw.
Hubris was a common theme in greek mythology and literature because it’s timeless in its relatability. It has persisted over time – readers can identify with the personality flaw and easily observe it in others. The excessive arrogance and pride would often lead to a fall from grace for the characters in greek mythology.
Quotes about Hubris
- The three chief virtues of a programmer are: Laziness, Impatience and Hubris. –Larry Wall
- “Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.” ― Thomas Sowell
- “It is the mark of the mind untrained to take its own processes as valid for all men, and its own judgments for absolute truth.” ― Aleister Crowley, Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on The Book of the Law
- “Even great men bow before the Sun; it melts hubris into humility.” ― Dejan Stojanovic
- “But who names a starship the Icarus? What kind of man possess that much hubris, that he dares it to fall?”
― Amie Kaufman, These Broken Stars - “Dreams of innocence are just that; they usually depend on a denial of reality that can be its own form of hubris.”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - “Even great men bow before the Sun; it melts hubris into humility.”
― Dejan Stojanovic - “If one sins against the laws of proportion and gives something too big to something too small to carry it – too big sails to too small a ship, too big meals to too small a body, too big powers to too small a soul – the result is bound to be a complete upset. In an outburst of hubris the overfed body will rush into sickness, while the jack-in-office will rush into the unrighteousness that hubris always breeds.” –Plato
- “Ancient societies had anthropomorphic gods: a huge pantheon expanding into centuries of dynastic drama; fathers and sons, martyred heroes, star-crossed lovers, the deaths of kings – stories that taught us of the danger of hubris and the primacy of humility.” –Tom Hiddleston
- “Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune.” –Carl Jung
- “Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it’s going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.” –Mary Midgley
- “It’s only hubris if I fail.” — Julius Caesar
- “Feeling superior doesn’t make one superior. Hubris does not humble others.” –Guy R. McPherson
- “Hubris is one of the great renewable resources.” –P. J. O’Rourke
- “Hubris and science are incompatible.” –Douglas Preston
- “It’s hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.” –Lisa RandallHubris means deadly pride. Thinking you can do things better than anyone else.
Rick Riordan - “Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris.” –Thucydides
- “Every empire suffers from hubris, arrogance and condescension, and therefore a moral blindness. That’s true of the American empire, it was true of the British Empire earlier, and it will certainly be true of the Chinese Empire in the future.” –Cornel West
- “Continue to learn with humility, not hubris. Hubris is boring.” –Jimmy Iovine
- “What matters are those ordinary acts of kindness and of love, not vaulting ambition with its attendant hubris and smugness.” –Michael Dirda
- “The antidote to hubris, to overweening pride, is irony, that capacity to discover and systematize ideas.” –Ralph Ellison
- “Hubris and science are incompatible.” — Douglas Preston
- “It’s hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.” — Lisa Randall
- “Success usually breeds a degree of hubris.” –Moby
Related: Best Epictetus Quotes
Summary
If you really want to learn more about hubris, checkout this video. It’s short, educational and will give you more depth on this topic.
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