From: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Television and Cartoons
Who said it?: General Iroh
The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a cartoon series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The story follows the adventures of AAng, the titular “last airbender,” to learn how to control, or “bend,” the four primal elements of air, water, earth and fire in order to become the Avatar.
The quote comes from the episode “Bitter Work.” General Iroh (voiced by Makoto “Mako” Iwamatsu), the uncle of Prince Zuko, who comes from the Fire Nation. Iroh decides to teach his nephew the art of lightning bending. Zuko is unable to learn it and gets frustrated. Iroh explains that his shame at himself is causing the anger that is stopping him from creating lightning. Zuko rebutts that he is actually still very proud. This is when Iroh delivers the quote.
Geek wisdom: Being too proud of oneself leads to overconfidence and can lead you to make disastrous errors. But being too prideful can also lead to not learning from those mistakes. Learn to own up to your mistakes and remember that you’re not perfect.
