The subjection in which his father had brought him up had given him originally great humility of manner; but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity. A fortunate chance had recommended him to Lady Catherine de Bourgh when the living of Hunsford was vacant; and the respect which he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good opinion of himself, of his authority as a clergyman, and his right as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 15. In the novel Mr. Collins – like his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh – is a caricature of a proud and conceited person. He is described in this passage as a man full of pride and his own self-importance and obsequiousness towards his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh.