“Pride comes before the fall.”
Alright… confession time. I think this saying is a tradition in my immediate and extended family. I would say that this statement of warning favors the male species because we are more likely to think more highly of ourselves. I’ve heard it used numerous times, and I’ve even said it recently to my son when he was being a typical male knucklehead. So, it’s usually done in a somewhat humorous way in our context.
This is a variant of part of a Bible verse, but not a very good quote. It is ironic because Proverbs is a book of the Bible where the verses don’t really have context. Many of the verses can stand on their own and are good for memorization. Therefore, it should be less likely to get it wrong.
Here is the full verse in Proverbs 16:18:
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
In essence, we are quoting the second half of this verse. The first half is kind of ominous, don’t you think? I don’t want my son or me to have an instance of pride that causes that kind of complete damage. Nor do I want us to fall or fail because of a lack of humility.
So, I think by all means we should share this verse word for word, but with the seriousness it actually portrays. Then maybe we won’t make some of the same mistakes our male (or female) relatives or friends have made.
