Proverbs 26:12 - Exposition

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? ( Proverbs 3:7 ). Nothing so shuts the door against improvement as self-conceit. "Woe unto them," says Isaiah ( Isaiah 5:21 ), "that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." Such persons, professing themselves wise, become fools ( Romans 1:22 ; Romans 12:16 ; Revelation 3:17 , Revelation 3:18 ). Touching conceit, Qui sibi sapit, summe desipit . The Oriental speaks of the fox finding his shadow very large, and of the wolf when alone thinking himself a lion. There is more hope of a fool than of him ( Proverbs 29:20 ). A fool who is conscious of unwisdom may be set right; but one who fancies himself perfect, and needing no improvement, is beyond cure; his case is hopeless. So the sinner who feels and acknowledges his iniquity may be converted; but the self-righteous Pharisee, who considers himself to have no need of repentance, will never be reformed (see Matthew Luke 15:7 ; Luke 18:14 ). St. Chrysostom (Hom. in Phil.,' 7), "Haughtiness is a great evil; it is better to be a fool than haughty; for in the one case the folly is only a perversion of intellect, but in the other ease it is still worse; for it is folly joined with madness. The fool is an evil to himself; but the haughty man is a plague to others too. One cannot be haughty-minded without being a fool … The soul which is puffed up has a worse disease than dropsy, while that which is under restraint is treed from all evil" (Oxford transl.).