يُسرّ المغرورون بذكر ما نالوه من تكريمات، وما صحبوه من عظماء وما شابه ذلك، فيعترفون بذلك صراحةً بأن هذه التكريمات تفوق حقّهم، وأنها مما لا يصدّقه أصدقاؤهم لو لم يُخبَروا به. أما المتعاظم حقًّا فيرى أرفع التكريمات دون استحقاقه، فيأنف من التفاخر. ولذلك أقرّر قاعدة مفادها: من أراد أن يُعرف بالعُجب، فعليه أن يُخفي زهوه.

“Vain men delight in telling what Honours have been done them, what great Company they have kept, and the like; by which they plainly confess, that these Honours were more than their Due, and such as their Friends would not believe if they had not been told: Whereas a Man truly proud, thinks the greatest Honours below his Merit, and consequently scorns to boast. I therefore deliver it as a Maxim that whoever desires the Character of a proud Man, ought to conceal his Vanity.”Jonathan Swift — The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published ... With Memoir of the Author (1856)