Avot264

1:
We know much less about "Little Shemu'el" than we would like to know. The appellation alone is curious. There have been a few attempts to explain this strange appellation, none of them truly convincing – even those that come from our classical sources. One possibility is that he had an elder brother and was therefore known as "the younger Shemu'el". This is unconvincing since no mention of an elder brother is to be found, and why would the sages call a colleague "the younger Shemu'el" if an elder one was not one of their number?

2:
Another suggestion is that he was called "little" because he was so humble that he appeared always to be belittling himself. Now we do have examples from the classical sources of this sage's tendency to 'belittle' himself. The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Sanhedrin 3b] tells of an occasion when Rabban Gamli'el had invited seven sages to join him for the formal decision to declare a leap year (and that the next new moon would be 1st Adar Sheni and not 1st Nisan). When they assembled it transpired that one extra person had joined them. Rabban Gamli'el, never one to save another's feelings, indignantly asked who had joined the conclave without an invitation. In order to save the face of the intruder Little Shemu'el immediately said that he was the uninvited eighth sage and that he had entered the study of Rabban Gamli'el because he had a halakhic query. Rabban Gamli'el, who knew very well that Shemu'el was certainly one of those he had invited, paid him a rare compliment.

3:
That he was held in great esteem by his colleagues can be seen from another incident recorded in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Sotah 45b]:

The Gemara goes on to ask the inevitable question: why was he called 'little'? – and offers the response that he was always belittling himself. Indeed, the Gemara also tells us that at his funeral he was eulogised thus: "Woe, humble one, pious one, student of Old Hillel." The Gemara then offers yet another explanation: that our Shemu'el was just a little less in religious stature than the prophet Samuel!

4:
I find it strange that no one has ever suggested that he was called "Little Shemu'el" because he was very short in physical stature. It is also strange that for a sage who was held in such great esteem by his contemporaries no halakhic pronouncement has been recorded in his name.

5:
However, perhaps (unwittingly) he erected for himself an even more enduring memorial. The Gemara [Berakhot 28b] records how an attempt was made to formalise the text of the Eighteen Benedictions of the weekday Amidah. Rabban Gaml'iel asked "Little Shemu'el" to suggest the wording of the benediction which calls down God's wrath on "Sadducees and heretics". There is little doubt that by this time the term 'Sadducee' had become a nickname for Jewish members of the new Christian sect. Rabban Gamli'el was anxious to exclude such people from leadership positions in the synagogues and by re-wording a benediction so that it called down God's imprecation on them he hoped to prevent them from leading services. Thus "Little Shemu'el" was the sage who reworded the twelfth of the eighteen benedictions of the Amidah.

6:
Our present mishnah is curious in yet another facet: it is the only saying in Tractate Avot which is quite simply a direct quotation from the bible. Perhaps it is typical of "Little Shemu'el" that he does not attribute to himself any words of wisdom but only quotes from biblical wisdom. Perhaps it is also typical of this gentle soul that he was fond of quoting these verses in particular [Proverbs 24:17-18] which remind people not to take delight in the fall of one's enemy: such delight would not be pleasing to God and He might well avert His anger from your enemy onto you yourself! I can't help feeling that Little Sam would have been a sage that it would be delightful to meet.

In Avot 258 I had occasion to quote Rabbi Ĥanina [Ta'anit 7a]: "From my teachers I learned much, from my colleagues I learned more, but most of all do I learn from my students."

Barak Rosenshine writes:

I have puzzled over this sentence, on and off, for many years – because it is so different from my experience. True, I have learned a great deal from my teachers, from discussions with colleagues, and from having to explain ideas to students. But, for me, my greatest learning has come when I can sit, for two or three hours, and study a new book or a new article in my field. Frequently, the author(s) advance ideas that are new, or look at an area of research in a new way, and these books and articles provide ideas that my colleagues or students had not thought of. That's where I learn most of all.

I comment:

Different strokes for different folks.