The Signs of Fleshly Pride

To draw together briefly what has been said about this kind of pride, I think it right to set out in a few words some of its signs, gathered as well as we can. In this way we may somehow give those who are thirsting for instruction in perfection an idea of its character from the movements of the outward man, and may conveniently recognize the signs by which it can be discerned and detected. Then, when the roots of this passion are laid bare and brought to the surface, seen and traced out before our very eyes, they may be more easily pulled up and avoided. For only then will this most deadly evil be escaped altogether: if we do not begin too late in the day, when it has already gained the mastery over us, to guard against its dangerous heat and harmful influence, but instead recognize its symptoms, so to speak, beforehand and take precautions against it with wise and careful foresight. For, as we said before, you can tell a man’s inward condition from the way he carries himself outwardly. [a]

These, then, are the signs by which the fleshly pride we spoke of earlier shows itself. To begin with, in conversation the man’s voice is loud. In his silence there is bitterness. In his mirth his laughter is noisy and excessive. When he is serious he is unreasonably gloomy. In his answers there is spite. He is too free with his tongue, and his words tumble out at random without being weighed. He is utterly lacking in patience and without love; impudent in insulting others, faint-hearted in bearing insults himself; troublesome in the matter of obedience, except where his own wishes and likings agree with his duty; unforgiving in receiving correction; weak in giving up his own wishes; very stubborn about yielding to those of others; always trying to get his own way, and never ready to give it up for others. And so the result is that, although he is incapable of giving sound advice, in everything he prefers his own opinion to that of the elders.