Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for him (Proverbs 26:12).

The Proverbs make one point very clearly and very consistently:  There's not much hope for a foolish person.  Just a casual reading of the Proverbs is enough to provide this impression.  But upon more careful examination of the wisdom of the Proverbs, one can see that it's really quite a serious situation.  Several verses state directly that the chattering mouths of fools bring them to ruin (see 10:8, 10:10, 10:14, 15:2, and 15:14).  They spread slander and destroy relationships (see 10:18, 13:20, 19:1, and 20:3).  They bring shame on their families (see 3:35, 10:1, 17:21, 17:25, and 19:13).  Their folly resigns them to a life of servitude (see 11:29), severe corporal punishment (see 16:22, 17:10, 19:29, and 26:3), and ultimately an inglorious death for their lack of judgment (see 10:21).  Clearly, there's not much hope for a foolish person.

So just imagine how bad it will be for the man who is wise in his own eyes!  There is more hope for a fool than for him!

I'm continually impressed by the theme of humility running through the Proverbs.  It really seems to be one of the most significant sub-themes running throughout the book (under what I'd say is an overarching theme of wisdom).  It turns out that humility is one of the key marks of character.  It defines so much of how we see, think, speak, and interact with the rest of the world.  If we can keep ourselves humble, then we can get places; we have reason for hope.  But if we allow arrogance to creep in, and we start becoming wise in our own eyes, there's not much hope for us.  One way or another, someday, we will all be humbled... unless we start with humbling ourselves.  This is never an easy process.  Crow is not a particularly edible object.  But if we don't humble ourselves, allow ourselves to be corrected and instructed, and eat some crow from time to time -- then I'm afraid we're facing a truly hopeless situation...