“Trees bend low with the burden of ripening fruit; it is the barren tree that often lifts its head high in an empty boast.” — Paramahansa Yogananada
English polymath Robert Hooke was Isaac Newton’s biggest critic (and not in a good way). Everything about the young genius antagonized Hooke, probably because in behavior they were polar opposites.
Whereas Newton realized the importance of being humble, Hooke was all about hubris. While Newton considered knowledge as progress towards the infinite, Hooke saw his own findings as a definitive end. Hooke even bragged that he had invented a reflecting telescope smaller and more powerful than Newton’s, but never bothered to build it.
Newton believed he saw further by standing on the shoulders of giants. But Hooke was indignant to see himself as anything less than a Giant. And we know whom history remembers. Not because it was cruel to Hooke, but because Newton deserves the recognition.
Further proof of this lies in Newton’s words before he died:
“I don’t know what I may seem to the world, but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
The importance of being humble cannot be stated enough. Knowledge brings humility, because you realize how ignorant you were (and still are). Growth brings humility, because you realize how many people are better than you.
This humility, in turn, comes from staying curious and striving to grow. Not in validation (like name, fame, and fortune), but in your abilities—your skills, values, knowledge, competence, resilience, curiosity, and more.
If you improve your abilities, validation is a natural byproduct. Even if the latter doesn’t come, you’re a better person. But if you work only for validation, you will become its slave. And when it stops coming, you will be left with nothing except bitterness.