This proverb is coined from the well known story entitled, “The Hare and die Tortoise,” from Aesop’s fables. We all remember having read it during our kindergarten days.
The hare always quick on his feet challenged a tortoise to a running race! The tortoise who knew that, being a slow animal he was no match for the hare. Yet he accepted the challenge. On the day of the race all the animals assembled at one place and die race commenced. Alas! Like a lightning the hare sprinted across and disappeared from sight. But poor tortoise walked slowly, as usual.
The haughty hare, which had gone too far away, paused under a tree. He knew that it would take a long time for the tortoise to reach him. So he stretched and slept. How long he slept, he never knew. Meanwhile, the tortoise came there, saw the hare sleeping and went ahead quietly and reached die winning post, giving a crushing defeat to the hare!
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This was a lesson not only to die hare, but to everyone who feels too proud and underestimates the others. No matter whatever one’s capacity is, one should not feel proud of it.
To cite another example, we have all seen the English movie, ‘Titanic.’ One of the main reasons that the ship sank was the overconfidence of the captain and the ship’s crew. They underestimated what harm an iceberg could do to such a mighty ship of theirs. Hence, the overconfidence broke the ship and sank it, drowning many hundreds of passengers.
People say that even a watch that stopped working, shows correct time twice a day! Some people have the habit of speaking so high of themselves. This is a bad practice. No one wishes to hear a man blow his own trumpet.
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Variant of this proverb is, “Scorn the proud man that is ashamed to weep!” by Edward Young; “Pride is not more sinful, than it is dangerous!” by Steele and “He who considers himself too much will perform a little!” by Schiller. No one speaks well of a proud person.
When a man becomes proud, his mind absentmindedly shuts the door of respect to others. At die same time, some people are differently proud. They appear to be too humble. Hence, this great saying also says that, “Too humble is half proud.