Avot278

9:
The last item in the list of negative attributes that is offered by Rabbi El'azar ha-Kappar is 'honour'. This, of course, can be understood in two ways.

10:
There are people who are very sensitive as regards their status in society and are always seeking to improve their status. Their nature requires that they be showered with honour, respect, credit, distinction and so forth. It is very easy to offend such people. They are sensitive to the slightest offence against what they perceive to be required recognition of their status and worth. An over-developed ego has been likened to a child's balloon: the more it has been puffed up the more likely it is to be burst by the slightest prick.

11:
The other possible way of understanding 'honour' in the context of our present mishnah is the constant seeking after status. There are people who are never satisfied with their station in life, but constantly seek to improve their station. Now when this is done for an honourable reason and with moderation and due recognition of self worth this is admirable. But often the insistent drive that prompts people ever to seek greater and greater status derives from a hidden sense of self-unworth.

12:
In previous chapters we have found what the sages thought was the correct way in which one should regulate one's sense of honour. In Avot 134 we learned:

And in Avot 215 we learned:

Thus we see that for the sages one should be accorded the same honour in life that one is prepared to show towards others.

13:
These three negative attributes, when permitted to take control of one's personality, 'take a person out of the world'. This, too, can be understood in two ways. Firstly, it can be understood as indicating that if you let these negative characteristics rule your life "it will be the death of you" – either spiritually or physically or both. However, I rather think that Rabbi El'azar had the other possible meaning in mind: if you let these negative characteristics rule your life you forfeit your place [status] in the world to come.

Gideon Weisz has sent me the following query:

I just ran into something that puzzled me, about the numbering and ordering of the mishnayot. Avot 277 discusses chapter 4, mishna 27, but when I followed the link to the Hebrew, I found that mishna to be numbered kaf alef, 21, though placed between 26 and 27. Then I went to one of my personal copies of Avot, namely the Chaim Stern one, and found that this mishna was indeed numbered 21 (and there the lengthy 22 completes chapter 4, while in our RMSG Hebrew reference it does end the chapter but is counted as 27.
In sum, I'm confused.

I respond:

We have dealt with this problem before, but it is one that bears regular repetition. In Avot 099 I wrote:

And in Avot 223, when we began our study of Chapter 4, I wrote:

Thus the allocation of mishnayot, especially in Chapter 4, is very confusing. I chose a simple rule: each sage should have his own mishnah. I hope this clarifies the confusion.