How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Flattery always slipped off the Prince like water off the leaves of water lilies: it is one of the advantages enjoyed by men who are at once proud and used to being so. (4.78)
Fabrizio is so proud that flattery means almost nothing to him. People can compliment him all they want, but the fact is that he already thinks he's pretty great and he doesn't need them reminding him of it. How's that for ego?
Quote #8
"Listen to your conscience, Prince, and not to the proud truths that you have spoken. Collaborate." (4.97)
When he's offered a position as senator in the new Italy, Fabrizio turns it down. The man sent to convince him insists that he should learn to work with others instead of being so proud and stubborn. But Fabrizio holds firmly to his pride and sends the dude packing.
Quote #9
The reason for the difference must lie in this sense of superiority that dazzles every Sicilian eye, and which we ourselves call pride while in reality it is blindness. (4.100)
Fabrizio realizes that his Sicilian pride is just a type of blindness at the end of the day, since pride keeps us from ever seeing our true faults. That said, pride also gives us a sort of blind confidence to jump head first into everything we do, so there can actually be an upside to it, too.