There were four things from which the Master was entirely free. He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism.
子絕四、毋意、毋必、毋固、毋我。
Analects 9.4
The same idea in other traditions
When pride cometh, then cometh shame; But with the lowly is wisdom.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Nor walk on the earth with insolence: for thou canst not rend the earth asunder, nor reach the mountains in height.
The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.
By humility he will acquire freedom from self-conceit; thereby he will become of a kind and meek disposition, and avoid the eight kinds of pride.
If I made a donation of castles of gold, and gave lots of fine horses and wondrous elephants in charity, and if I made donations of land and cows-even then, pride and ego would still be within me.
Lay not reproach at the drunkard’s door / Oh Fanatic, thou that art pure of soul; / Not thine on the page of life to enrol / The faults of others! Or less or more / I have swerved from my path—keep thou to thine own! / For every man when he reaches the goal / Shall reap the harvest his hands have sown. …