Musar su Salmi 14:1

Having praised the virtue of modesty and humility, we must try to understand the statement of Rabbi Chiyah son of Ashi in Sotah 5a that a "Torah scholar must possess one eighth of an eighth" (of pride). This statement is followed by one of Rabbi Hunna son of Rabbi Joshua who says: "This amount of pride crowns him just like the beard is a crown of the ear of corn." The deeper meaning of this statement is related to the eight manifestations of pride we have listed and corresponding to which we recite eight (respectively 7) times מה in the רבון prayer every morning. Our sages have said on numerous occasions that the number "one" is not really part of any count. It follows that if a Torah scholar possesses only "one" of eight parts of pride this is hardly something to be concerned about. The problem is that the eight manifestations of pride are all rooted in the same source, i.e. the head, as we have pointed out. In such a situation, even a small amount such as one eighth becomes significant because it contains some of all the eight aspects. This is why Rabbi Chiyah does not want the תלמיד חכם to cultivate more than 1 /8th of 1 /8th i.e. 1/64th of pride. The only reason even this small amount of pride or self-confident bearing is permitted to the scholar is so that the people for whom he is to represent authority should not misconstrue his humble bearing as indicating an inability to lead.