What does it mean?
Seeing how big and varied the world is reminds you that you are small, and makes you less proud.
Key vocabulary
- modest
- not proud; not thinking you are very important
- occupy
- fill or take up a space
Who said it?
Gustave Flaubert: French novelist (1821–1880).
These exact words are widely credited to Gustave Flaubert, but they don’t appear in their known work. They may be a later paraphrase or a misattribution.