The heaviest ear of grain bends its head the lowest.
Note: The ancient Greeks wrote something similar to this week’s proverb in the Apocrypha, “The greater thou art, the more humble thyself.” Perhaps, the metaphor is a recognition that the greater one’s knowledge becomes, the more one realises how ignorant one is. The more one strives for perfection, the more apparent becomes the futility of such a pursuit. For most of us,
“Buaic na baoise a deir Cóheilit, buaic na baoise! Níl in aon ní ach baois! … Ritheann na haibhneacha go léir isteach san fharraige ach ní líontar í choíche; mar sin féin coinníonn na haibhneacha orthu ag déanamh ar a gceann cúrsa go brách.” (“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! … All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.” )
Cóheilit 1:2,7 (Ecclesiastes 1:2,7)
