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Hubris is one of the great renewable resources.
P. J. O'Rourke
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Hubris refers to excessive pride or self-confidence, often leading to downfall.

The quote by P. J. O'Rourke suggests that hubris, or extreme arrogance, is not only a common human trait but also a recurring one that seems to regenerate over time. It highlights the idea that despite the consequences of excessive pride, people continually demonstrate this trait, making it a perpetual source of folly throughout history.

Themes

HubrisPrideArroganceRenewableResources

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a discussion about leadership failures, illustrating how pride can lead to a downfall.

More from P. J. O'Rourke

Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.
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Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
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Predicting innovation is something of a self-canceling exercise: the most probable innovations are probably the least innovative.
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I spend my days kneeling in the muck of language, feeling around for gooey verbs, nouns, and modifiers that I can squash together to make a blob of a sentence that bears some likeness to reason and sense.
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Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine.
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The idea of a news broadcast once was to find someone with information and broadcast it. The idea now is to find someone with ignorance and spread it around.
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