There is a character trait that can derail the most promising career and dismantle the most successful life. The Greeks referred to it as "hubris". The Roman adherent to stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, was always aware that his purple cloak of authority might cause him to think of himself more highly than he ought. We see the crispest and clearest advice on the necessity of avoiding the damages and dangers of "pride" in the reading from the 13th Sunday after Pentecost: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." Romans 12:2-3 And St James adds in his epistle: "But God gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
As Yogi Berra once quipped: "It ain't the heat; it's the humility."
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