If you get too big for your boots, if you've got big dreams

Here is an ancient-style reflection on Malcolm Young’s quote:

The Humility of Greatness

When Malcolm Young said, “If you get too big for your boots, if you’ve got big dreams, you’re gonna get them broken or shattered,” he spoke with the voice of experience — the hard-earned wisdom of a man who had walked through fire and found humility on the other side. His words are not the counsel of defeat, but of balance — a reminder that ambition without humility invites downfall, and that the greater our dreams, the stronger our need for grounding. For pride, left unchecked, blinds the dreamer to the dangers that lie beneath his own ascent.

The meaning of this quote reaches deep into the heart of human striving. To “get too big for your boots” is to let success swell beyond wisdom, to mistake the glow of fortune for the light of truth. It is when a person forgets the soil from which they rose, when they believe themselves untouchable, that the world — or fate itself — steps in to remind them of their smallness. Yet this reminder is not cruelty; it is correction. Dreams break not to destroy us, but to humble us, to return us to the path of clarity and purpose.

Malcolm Young, the quiet yet powerful rhythm behind the legendary band AC/DC, understood this deeply. Though he lived amidst fame, he carried himself with the discipline of a craftsman, not the arrogance of an idol. His words arose not from bitterness but from observation — that in the world of music and beyond, those who lost their humility soon lost themselves. For he knew that success without humility is a house built on sand, and that true mastery requires not self-importance, but self-awareness.

The ancients too taught this truth. Icarus, filled with pride, soared too close to the sun, forgetting the limits of his wings. The wax melted, and he fell from glory into the sea. His story is the mirror of Malcolm’s warning: that unbridled ambition, when divorced from wisdom, brings ruin. Yet even in that fall there is a lesson — for those who fall may rise again, chastened and wiser, if they learn the art of modesty in greatness.

To dream greatly, therefore, is not forbidden — indeed, it is divine. But one must dream with discipline, with reverence for the forces that govern life. Pride blinds; humility sharpens. The dreamer who walks with humility builds slowly but securely; the one who runs headlong into greatness without reflection courts disaster. As the proverb says, “The tallest tree catches the most wind.” Ambition invites trials, and only those rooted in humility can withstand them.

There is also a hidden mercy in broken dreams. When a dream shatters, it often reveals what was fragile within it — vanity, greed, impatience. The wise take the pieces and rebuild something purer. Every shattering, if faced with courage, becomes an initiation — the breaking of pride that precedes the birth of wisdom. The fall is not the end of the dream, but the cleansing of it.

Therefore, O seeker of greatness, learn this: dream boldly, but walk humbly. Let your ambition burn bright, but let it be guided by awareness of your own limits. Be grateful for your beginnings, no matter how small, and never despise the lessons of failure. When the world reminds you of your place, accept it not as humiliation but as instruction. For the wise do not fall forever — they fall, they learn, and they rise again, stronger and steadier than before.

So take heed of Malcolm Young’s wisdom. If you outgrow your boots, life will break them — not to punish you, but to fit you with new ones better suited to the road ahead. For humility is the armor of the great, and balance the crown of the enduring. Dream as high as the heavens, but keep your feet firm upon the earth. Only then will your dreams not be shattered, but fulfilled in truth.