ABSTRACT
Wisdom, justice, valour and especially pride may presume too much; they have a secret tendency towards vanity and haughtiness. They need a similar limit set to them, only in another direction, in the direction of modesty and humility. Trust, neighbour-love, and the sympathy which flows from it, may become aggressive. As a counterpoise they require aloofness. What modesty is in relation to others, humility is as an inner form of the character itself. It is the consciousness of falling infinitely short of the mark, in which all comparison with others is ignored. Pride without humility is always on the brink of arrogance and vanity; humility without pride, on the brink of self-degradation, worthlessness and hypocrisy. All human proximity requires a limit, as a protection against aggressiveness which takes advantage of proximity itself. Social distinction in one's attitude towards others is the same as the fusion of pride and humility in one's attitude towards the absolute standard of the moral ideal.
