Pride Comes Before The Fall

It seems that when men make outrageous boasts the universe is unforgiving.
Fighting Joe Hooker with superior numbers boasted that he would crush Lee or send him retreating at Chancelorsville. He stated "My plans are perfect." Of course Lee won his greatest victory against all odds.
A man was heard to say that "God himself couldn't sink the Titanic."

In 1866, Capt. Fetterman rode out of Fort Phil Kearny in Northeast Wyoming with soldiers to protect woodcutters who furnished fuel for the fort. Fetterman had twenty seven cavalry, forty nine infantry and two civilians with repeating rifles. He had boasted to his superior that with eighty men he could ride through the entire Sioux nation.

Soon the Sioux warriors appeared in numbers Fetterman was sure he could defeat. Against orders he pursued the fleeing Indians up the Bozeman Trail out of view from the fort. He soon found himself in a trap by overwhelming numbers. The entire column was wiped out.