Quotes

Quotes


Thoughts from Madison Nef

“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18
The quote basically is saying to not be over-confident, because it can easily turn around and lead to your failure. A good example is the story of the Tortoise and the Hare- the hare boasts about how he is sure to win the race against the tortoise because he is fast and the tortoise is slow. He is so confident, in fact, that he stops continuously along the way and the tortoise ends up winning.

Going to a biblical reference, pride came before the fall for Adam and Eve as well. They didn’t listen to God’s good advice about not eating from the Tree of Life, but instead thought they would be better off to eat from the tree. Their pride CERTAINLY went before a big fall- they ruined life for the rest of us! However, the quote comes from the book of Proverbs, not the book of Genesis.

In the chapter 16 in the book of Proverbs, the author is talking about following God and doing as he says. “The path of the upright avoids misfortune, he who pays attention to his way safeguards his life. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be humble with the meek, than to share plunder with the proud.”

I agree with the quote to some extent- because more often than not, our large amount of self-confidence does inevitably lead to our own destruction and failure. Just because you aced a test doesn’t mean you can stop studying; just because you won a game 3 times in a row doesn’t mean you will win a 4th time.

A good RECENT example of pride going before a (minor) fall was Dad the other day playing Skyrim. He was in a forsworn camp and was near the end of the dungeon and I warned him to save, but he said, word for word: “nah, I’ll be fine, these guys are easy.” Well, as you can imagine, his pride definitely got the best of him as he was ambushed at the top of a hill, killed, and forced to start the entire dungeon over. OUCH.

This quote is definitely relatable within the karate system too. All too often people will spar without wearing a cup or mouthpiece, saying the famous last words “I never get hit anyway” or “I’m fine without it, I can take a hit.” 3 minutes later, their tune changes when they get hit hard and are in pain. Is looking tough before the fight REALLY worth it if you are going to go out, fight poorly and look like a sissy when you get hit? No.

In the end, if you think about it, the quote relates to our whole life- we go about striving to achieve our goals, be they physical, psychological, or material, when in the end when we die we are left with nothing. All our material possessions and things we were formerly proud of mean nothing to anyone else (most likely). In death, there is no pride- in life, there is too much.