an awareness of one’s own folly, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 275
275
A man who takes himself too seriously often becomes the butt of the joke, and inadvertently becomes the life of the party – and of course the man who does not take himself too seriously, who has a sense of humor, tends to add life to the party as well. Likewise, an awareness of one’s own folly makes a healthier morality – that is, if one measures morality by the standard of applicability and not mere tenability. And if not, then complacency stands confidently on the rug again, a convenient straight man to this moral comedy....