“It was pride that changed angels into devils,” St. Augustine of Hippo once wrote, “it is humility that makes men as angels.”
Though Augustine was addressing theological matters, if we convert his thoughts into a secular metaphor, we can still find truth in them. Pride and arrogance in tyrants, for example, can make them demonic, as seen by the millions upon millions of casualties they inflicted in the 20th century.
We, too, may bring ruin to our own lives through excessive pride, called hubris by the Greeks, yet pride is a complicated creature and has another, more positive side. A carpenter I know takes quiet pride in the decks he builds. Parents of an acquaintance of mine are rightly proud of their children’s accomplishments….