When Qu Xia of Chu set out to campaign against the state of Luo, the elder minister Dou Bobi escorted him out of the city. On the way back, Dou Bobi said to his chariot driver: "Mo'ao will certainly be defeated."
"Why?"
"His toes were high."
The driver was confused. Dou Bobi explained: "When a man walks with his toes pointing up — his steps light, his head high, his chest puffed out — it means his heart is no longer grounded. He is full of himself. And a man full of himself cannot see the ground beneath his feet."
Qu Xia marched into a trap. His army was routed. He hanged himself.
楚屈瑕伐罗，斗伯比送之。还，谓其御曰：「莫敖必败。举趾高，心不固矣。」
楚屈瑕伐罗，斗伯比送之。还，谓其御曰：「莫敖必败。举趾高，心不固矣。」
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
Arrogance is visible before it is fatal. The man who walks with his toes high has already lost his footing — he just doesn't know it yet.
The phrase "趾高气扬" (toes high, spirit soaring) became the Chinese idiom for arrogance and overconfidence. Dou Bobi's observation is remarkably physical: he read the general's character from the way he walked. The body, in Chinese thought, reveals the mind.
This story is a companion to the military wisdom of Sun Tzu: know yourself, know your enemy. Qu Xia did not know himself. His success had gone to his head, and his head had gone to the clouds. The ground — and the trap — were invisible from that height.