VII

ARROGANCE

What is arrogance?  To begin with, it is the besetting sin of young men who have begun to prosper by their own exertions in the affairs of the world.  It is not pride, which is a more or less just estimate of one’s own power and responsibilities.  It is not vanity or conceit, which consists in pluming oneself exactly on the qualities one does not possess.  Arrogance is in essence something of far tougher fibre than conceit.  It is the sense of ability and power run riot; the feeling that the world is an oyster, and that in opening its rough edges there is no need to care a jot for the interests or susceptibilities of others.

A young man who has surmounted his education, gone out into the world on his own account, and made some progress in business, is the ready prey of the bacillus of arrogance.  He does not yet know enough of life to realise the price he will have to pay in the future for the brusqueness of his manner or the abruptness of his proceedings.  He may even fancy that it is only necessary to be as rude as Napoleon to acquire all the gifts of the Emperor.  This conception is altogether false, though it may be pardoned to youth in the first rush of success.

The unfortunate point is that in everyday life the older men will not in practice confer this pardon.  They are annoyed by the presumption the newcomer displays, and they visit their wrath on him, not only at the time of the offence, but for years afterwards.

At the moment this attitude of criticism and hostility the masters of the field show to the aspirant may not be without its advantages if it teaches him that justice, moderation, and courtesy are qualities which still possess merits even for the rising young man.  If so, we may thank Heaven even for our enemies.

The usual prophecy for curbing arrogant youth on these occasions is the sure prediction that he will come a smash.  As a matter of fact, it is extraordinarily rare for a man who has conquered the initial difficulties of success in money-making, if his work is honest, to come to disaster.  None the less, if the young man hears these “ancestral voices prophesying war,” and shivers a little in his bed at night, he will be none the worse for the cold douche of doubt and enmity.

Indeed, so long as youth keeps its head it will be the better for the successive hurdles which obstructive age, or even middle-age, puts in its path.  A few stumbles will teach it care in approaching the next jump.

The only real cure for arrogance is a check—­not an absolute failure.  For complete disaster is as likely to breed the arrogance of despair as supreme triumph is to breed the arrogance of invincibility.  A set-back is the best cure for arrogance.