Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep.
You must empty out the dirty water before you fill the pitcher with clean.
Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung to death by scorpions.
Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something.