Don't be overly righteous nor overly wise. 

(Ecc 7.8-20) 

Piety and humility are frequently mistakenly thought to be the same thing. However, one leads to Godliness and the other is anything but Godly.

Let me share with you a portion of scripture that intrigues me: (N.I.V.) Ecclesiastes 7:18b The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. 20. There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

That sort of flies in the face of almost everything descended from the English Reformation. Piety has been equated with Godliness for hundreds of years.

Actually, any Biblical quest for understanding humility will take one away from piety. Likewise, any objective look at piety will take one to Ecclesiastes 7:20 - and that can only lead to seeing piety as just so much hypocrisy.

Since, as the Apostle Paul noted in Romans chapter 7, it is impossible to always do what is right and never sin - I am brought to the practicality of (N.I.V.) Ecclesiastes 7:16 Do not be over-righteous, neither be over-wise-- why destroy yourself? 

The reality of a person is hidden, swallowed up, by the image that a person assumes when consumed with piety. The reality of that 'overly righteous and overly wise' individual is destroyed, replaced by a phony shell that becomes insufferable to those around him.