proverb · Words worth keeping
Ingratitude is the daughter of pride.
Ingratitude is the daughter of pride.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying suggests that excessive pride can make someone overlook the help they receive. Recognising your own effort need not prevent acknowledging other people’s contributions.
Example
A project lead describes their own work and also credits the people who prepared materials and checked arrangements, rather than presenting a shared achievement as a solitary success.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Daughter makes ingratitude an imagined descendant of pride. The relationship proposed is that someone who sees an achievement as entirely their own may fail to notice support or shared work. This is a moral interpretation, not proof that pride explains every absence of thanks. A contribution may be unknown, gratitude may be expressed differently or the claimed help may not have been wanted. The useful invitation is to examine whose effort made a result possible and acknowledge it appropriately, without demanding public appreciation as repayment or treating self-respect as incompatible with recognising others.
When to use it
Use it when claiming complete personal credit has obscured genuine support or shared effort.
Keep in mind
Lack of visible thanks does not prove pride, and unwanted help does not create an automatic debt of gratitude.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English