--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity." description: "\"Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.\" — Marianne Moore" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png" --- # Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity. ![“Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.” quote by Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png) > “Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.” [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Egotism often clouds wise judgment, leading to poor decisions. **In simple terms:** Egotism hinders wisdom. Key Takeaway Check humility before acting. Themes ego wisdom self‑awareness Mood introspective critical Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - leadership meetings - personal relationships - decision making Key Concepts cognitive bias critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - When have you let ego override good sense? - What strategies curb self‑importance? A Different Perspective Self‑importance can be hard to detect in oneself. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ego](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ego/) [Egotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egotism/) [Egotism Usually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egotism-usually-4489366/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Sagacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sagacity/) [Subversive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subversive/) [Subversive Sagacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subversive-sagacity-4489367/) [Usually Subversive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/usually-subversive-542146/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [The vanity of shining in conversation is usually subversive of its own desires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-sigourney/the-vanity-of-shining-in-conversation-is-usually-subversive-of-its/) [Lydia Sigourney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-sigourney/) > [Egotism - usually just a case of mistaken nonentity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-stanwyck/egotism-usually-just-a-case-of-mistaken-nonentity/) [Barbara Stanwyck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-stanwyck/) > [When a good idea sparks, it's usually because of some subversive angle that means the song we're writing will be fresh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lopez/when-a-good-idea-sparks-it-s-usually-because-of-some-subversive-angle/) [Robert Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lopez/) > [Well was it said by a man of sagacity that dancing was a sort of privileged and reputable folly, and that the best way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/well-was-it-said-by-a-man-of-sagacity-that-dancing-was-a-sort-of/) [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/) > [For, besides, that many persons find too sensible an interest in perpetually recalling such topics; besides this, I say, the motive of blind despair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/for-besides-that-many-persons-find-too-sensible-an-interest-in/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/spies-cannot-be-usefully-employed-without-a-certain-intuitive-sagacity/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The absence of effective State, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair money-getting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/the-absence-of-effective-state-and-especially-national-restraint-upon/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [“The most holy cannibalism you can perform is to eat the flesh and blood of sagacity, and by sharing it with other wisdom thirsty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/the-most-holy-cannibalism-you-can-perform-is-to-eat-the-flesh-and/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The most Indian thing about the Indian is surely not his moccasins or his calumet, his wampum or his stone hatched, but traits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-most-indian-thing-about-the-indian-is-surely-not-his-moccasins-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Baseball is the exponent of American Courage, Confidence, Combativeness, American Dash, Discipline, Determination, American Energy, Eagerness, Enthusiasm, American Pluck, Persistency, Performance, American Spirit, Sagacity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-goodwill-spalding/baseball-is-the-exponent-of-american-courage-confidence-combativeness/) [Albert Goodwill Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-goodwill-spalding/) > [“Accept and express your underlying certitude, and it shall be worldwide sagacity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ogwo-david-emenike/accept-and-express-your-underlying-certitude-and-it-shall-be/) [Ogwo David Emenike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ogwo-david-emenike/) > [“The audacity of my sagacity is instrumentality to my successity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/the-audacity-of-my-sagacity-is-instrumentality-to-my-successity/) [Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ifeanyi-enoch-onuoha/) > [It is only with prudence, sagacity, and much dexterity that great aims are accomplished, and all obstacles surmounted. Otherwise nothing is accomplished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/it-is-only-with-prudence-sagacity-and-much-dexterity-that-great-aims/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/the-sovereign-has-under-a-constitutional-monarchy-such-as-ours-three/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/criticism-though-dignified-from-the-earliest-ages-by-the-labours-of/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) ## More by Marianne Moore > [When one is frank, one's very presence is a compliment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-is-frank-one-s-very-presence-is-a-compliment/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one's happiness to express.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/one-writes-because-one-has-a-burning-desire-to-objectify-what-it-is/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Victory won't come to me unless I go to it; a grape tendril ties a knot in knots till knotted thirty times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/victory-won-t-come-to-me-unless-i-go-to-it-a-grape-tendril-ties-a/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence; not in silence, but restraint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-deepest-feeling-always-shows-itself-in-silence-not-in-silence-but/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [“Do the poet and scientist not work analogously? Both are willing to waste effort. To be hard on himself is one ...of the main…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/do-the-poet-and-scientist-not-work-analogously-both-are-willing-to/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Camels are snobbish and sheep, unintelligent; water buffaloes, neurasthenic-- even murderous. Reindeer seem over-serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/camels-are-snobbish-and-sheep-unintelligent-water-buffaloes/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-cannot-appraise-out-of-one-s-own-experience-the-temptation/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [The hands are the heart's messengers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-hands-are-the-heart-s-messengers/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [I believe verbal felicity is the fruit of ardor, of diligence, and of refusing to be false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/i-believe-verbal-felicity-is-the-fruit-of-ardor-of-diligence-and-of/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Conscious writing can be the death of poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/conscious-writing-can-be-the-death-of-poetry/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Only imagination that towers can reproduce evanescence and render rigidity flexible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/only-imagination-that-towers-can-reproduce-evanescence-and-render/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Revision is its own reward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/revision-is-its-own-reward/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [In a poem the excitement has to maintain itself. I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of a fabric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/in-a-poem-the-excitement-has-to-maintain-itself-i-am-governed-by-the/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [All are / naked, none is safe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/all-are-naked-none-is-safe/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/it-is-human-nature-to-stand-in-the-middle-of-a-thing/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) [Explore all 134 Marianne Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) ## More Ego quotes > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [For us who are now in power, we need to be challenged to serve the people and ignore our own egos and personal interests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangari-maathai/for-us-who-are-now-in-power-we-need-to-be-challenged-to-serve-the/) [Wangari Maathai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangari-maathai/) > [I love playing ego and insecurity combined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carrey/i-love-playing-ego-and-insecurity-combined/) [Jim Carrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carrey/) > [“sometimes when everything seems at its worst when all conspires and gnaws and the hours, days, weeks years seem wasted – stretched there upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/sometimes-when-everything-seems-at-its-worst-when-all-conspires-and/) [Charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [I'm a straight shooter, and most of the time my ego doesn't interrupt my relationships.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-macht/i-m-a-straight-shooter-and-most-of-the-time-my-ego-doesn-t-interrupt/) [Gabriel Macht](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-macht/) > [Thinking, or more precisely identification with thinking, gives rise to and maintains the ego, which, in our Western society in particular, is out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/thinking-or-more-precisely-identification-with-thinking-gives-rise-to/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/beware-of-self-indulgence-the-romance-surrounding-the-writing/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [“There are two kinds of people: goal-oriented and ego-oriented. Goal-oriented people work together and get things gone. Ego-oriented people don’t work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charbel-tadros/there-are-two-kinds-of-people-goal-oriented-and-ego-oriented-goal/) [Charbel Tadros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charbel-tadros/) > [Heart surgeons do not have the world's smallest egos: when you ask them to name the world's three leading practitioners, they never can remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/heart-surgeons-do-not-have-the-world-s-smallest-egos-when-you-ask/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [I hate acting when I see it. I don't want to feel it, I don't want to see it, I want to be taken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-hauer/i-hate-acting-when-i-see-it-i-don-t-want-to-feel-it-i-don-t-want-to/) [Rutger Hauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-hauer/) > [It's a constant man-ego-check going on in the streets, in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/it-s-a-constant-man-ego-check-going-on-in-the-streets-in-this-world/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [“... a man doesn't like to have his ego popped, especially when he prides himself on his sagacity, and then to be proved wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-a-bucchianeri/a-man-doesn-t-like-to-have-his-ego-popped-especially-when-he-prides/) [E.A. Bucchianeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-a-bucchianeri/) > [Our real nature is not our imaginary, limited ego. Our true nature is vast, all-comprehensive, and intangible as empty space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anagarika-govinda/our-real-nature-is-not-our-imaginary-limited-ego-our-true-nature-is/) [Anagarika Govinda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anagarika-govinda/) > [The man of wisdom is devoid of ego even though he may appear to use it. His vacant or fasting mind is neither doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramesh-s-balsekar/the-man-of-wisdom-is-devoid-of-ego-even-though-he-may-appear-to-use/) [Ramesh S Balsekar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramesh-s-balsekar/) > [Show me success without ego!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivana-trump/show-me-success-without-ego/) [Ivana Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivana-trump/) [Browse all 3,462 Ego quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ego/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marianne Moore" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacity/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ego" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacity/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4c/marianne-moore-3315_ego_egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacit_2145796.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.” — Marianne Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marianne Moore", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacity/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/egotism-is-usually-subversive-of-sagacity/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```