Musar zu Dewarim 8:11

Pride is the coin which the Great King, Blessed be He, voided, and about which He warned us in His Torah, as it is said: "Take care lest you forget the Lord your God and fail to keep His commandments" (Deut. 8:11). For the arrogant person forgets his Maker, as it is written, "… and (when) your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget the Lord your God … and you say to yourselves, 'My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me'" (Ibid. 8:13-18). And in the case of a king it is said: "Thus he will not act haughtily towards his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left…" (Ibid. 17:20). If the Torah warned against pride even in the case of a king, so much more does it warn ordinary men that they should not attempt to lord over one another.

Among the [negative commandments] that are dependent on the heart are: “Take care lest you forget the Lord, your God” (Deuteronomy 8:11). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 5a), “Wherever it is stated in a verse, ‘beware,’ ‘lest’ or ‘not,’ this is [surely] a negative commandment.” We are warned [then] with this to remember God, may He be blessed every instant. And a person is obligated to make efforts to always acquire for himself behaviors that are mandated by remembrance - such as fear, modesty, refinement of one’s thoughts and strategies [to acquire] good traits - so that the holy seed will attain every fine behavior and be crowned through it from the remembrance of God, may He be blessed, just as it is stated (Isaiah 45:25), “It is through the Lord that all the offspring of Israel Have vindication and glory.”

If a person borrows money or household utensils from a friend, he must remember exactly what he has borrowed and take care to return everything. One who has many business interests and is very busy should be very careful not to borrow money or things from people, since he is liable to forget everything and not remember. If someone has done him a good deed he should make a point of remembering it so that he can reciprocate. Concerning charity, one must remember the poor and constantly keep their distress in mind, and thus he will be able to help them. And if a man comes to give testimony in a court of law concerning what he has seen and what he knows, he must be very careful to remember and he must not diminish from or add to that which he saw. See how the Holy One, Blessed be He, has warned us concerning memory. As it is said, "Beware lest thou forget the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments and His ordinances" (Deut. 5:11). And it is very important to remember God in all of one's deeds. And thus did David say, "I have set the Lord always before me" (Ps. 16:8).