bible and theology on Overconfidence

Conversation would be much improved by the frequent use of three words: I don’t know.

Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves.

Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.

The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.

Gracious God, sometimes I think that I can figure out all the consequences of my decisions. I can become overly impressed with what I perceive to be my strategic vision and analysis. Forgive me for my...

Foolishness is more than being stupid, that deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance.

Our goodness is our biggest self-delusion, and all of us seem to be living with it.

When in doubt, tell the truth.

Over the years, I’ve read about many leaders who failed ethically in their leadership. Can you guess what they had in common? They all thought it could never happen to them. There was a false sense of...

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

When we insist on doing too much, we are not only inflicting the damage of this choice on ourselves, we are sharing this damage with those we love the most.

Error, by force of contrast, enhances the triumph of Truth.

We must never underestimate our power to be wrong when talking about God, when thinking about God, when imagining God, whether in prose or in poetry. A generous orthodoxy, in contrast to the tense, na...

With vainglory, we crave notice of our achievements with pride, we take full credit for the progress we have made and do not think that God has been involved at all, let alone been our indispensible h...

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying… that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

As soon as we know that we are wrong, we aren’t wrong anymore, since to recognize a belief as false is to stop believing it. Thus we can only say “I was wrong.” Call it the Heisenberg Uncertainty Prin...

In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson points out our blind-spots with respect to pride: We rarely think of ourselves as proud. I...

He who believes his doctrine to be perfectly right and true has only to lift his hands and touch his ears and discover they are the long furry ears of a donkey.

Prosperity inebriates men, so that they take delights in their own merits.

Dear Everybody, We have a serious problem: All of us think we’re good people. But Jesus says we’re not. Sincerely, Brant P. Hansen …PS. IF YOU THINK I’M WRONG—about how we think we’re good people...

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.

Almighty God, we trust in our own strength, abilities, and resources. We think too highly of what we have to offer this world. The truth is we cannot do anything without your strength and all we have ...

Knowledge is proud that she knows so much; wisdom is humble that she knows no more.

Gracious God, you love us deeply yet we take your love for granted. Rather than trusting you, we trust the gifts you have given us. We confess that our misplaced hope and reliance is on money, intelli...

We cannot be too careful about the words we use; we start out using them and they end up using us.

Stop being so sure that you are always right, and others wrong. Don't trust your own opinion, when you find it contrary to that of older men, and especially to that of your own parents. Age gives ...

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

Better to be thought a fool—than to open your mouth and prove it.

Only a fool thinks he can fool God.