The quote is actually more of a shorthand paraphrase from a longer proverb that doesn’t translate easily (to either Toor Aythfl or to English); but the idea is that there was, especially among the Lightlings, a sort of intellectual “might makes right” attitude, and the original proverb was cautioning against that, essentially saying that you can’t become so wise or knowledgeable that your own wisdom or knowledge no longer apply to you. It eventually moved into the general public consciousness as a classic warning against intellectual arrogance, but there is some debate over whether it is really that general or if it was actually a direct criticism of the Darkhillhome Scholarchy.