On the Importance of Glaciers

…a man who keeps company with glaciers comes to feel tolerably insignificant by and by. The Alps and the glaciers together are able to take every bit of conceit out of a man and reduce his self-importance to zero if he will only remain within the influence of their sublime presence long enough to give it a fair and reasonable chance to do its work.
- Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad

Does a man’s self-importance shrink along with the glaciers, even as his foolishness grows?