Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Pride goeth before destruction - Here pride is personified: it walks along, and has destruction in its train.
And a haughty spirit before a fall - Another personification. A haughty spirit marches on, and ruin comes after.
In this verse we find the following Masoretic note in most Hebrew Bibles. חצי הספר chatsi hassepher: "the middle of the book." This verse is the middle verse; and the first clause makes the middle of the words of the book of Proverbs.