Lao Tzu Quotes

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.

Prosperity often leads to pride, which leads to sin.

Unless the old adage must be verified, That beggars mounted, run their horse to death.

Success tempts many to their ruin.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.

Success can set the table for tragedy if the victors are not careful.

The greatest enemy a man can have is his prosperity.

Who soars too near the sun, with golden wings, melts them.

Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That's not a guess, it's a guarantee. With pride, it's not a matter of 'if' we will fall, but 'when.' There are no exceptions.

The story of Willie Stark fascinated me because it was tackling the story of a man who outwardly has all the success one could possibly want and who is destroyed by his personal demons.

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

Ambition devours gold and drinks blood and climbs so high by other men's heads, that at the length in the fall, it breaks its own neck; therefore, it is better to live in humble content than in high care and trouble.

Luxury! more perilous to youth than storms or quicksand, poverty or chains.

We've seen the hubris. And now we're seeing the scandals.

What enables us to achieve our greatness contains the seeds of our destruction.

Stupidity and human incompetence are the great evils, not ambition and glory.

Hubris is interesting, because you get people who are often very clever, very powerful, have achieved great things, and then something goes wrong - they just don't know when to stop.

The biggest victories can lead to the greatest foolishness.

When as smart as you think you are is as wrong as you turn out to be, your life can fall out from under you.

I was unbeatable - until I wasn't.

Ego is certainly there in many of the greatest and most dizzying tales of success - but it's there in some of the greatest stories of failure and self-implosion as well.

I think once you start to think that you're the man, and you know it all, and your style is unbeatable and stuff like that, that's when you get caught and clipped and get humbled really fast.

The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatness, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art.

Two things cause people to be destroyed: fear of poverty and seeking superiority through pride.

I'm keenly aware of the Pride coming before the Fall . . . but I really do like what I've been able to do here.