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humility quotes

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“Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, few doubtingly of scepticism.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées
“Nothing is more deceitful . . . than the appearance of humility.” Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“A great man is always willing to be little.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Compensation
“All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility.” C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.” Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot
“All we can know is that we know nothing.” Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known.” Confucius, Analects
“it is impossible for anyone to set out to learn what he thinks he already knows.” Epictetus, Discourses
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“To learn one must be humble. But life is the great teacher.” James Joyce, Ulysses
“I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.” Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi
“Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.” Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
“The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others.” François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
“I speak to you as just another human being; as a simple monk.” 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Lecture
“Any man who has met with success, if he will be frank with himself, must admit that there has been a big element of fortune in the success.” Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography
“Those who live alone do not speak too loud nor write too loud, for they fear the hollow echo” Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
“Those truths which we know are very few in comparison with those which we do not know.” Galileo Galilei, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.” Albert Einstein, The world as I see it
“He was a simple man who didn’t feel inferior about his lack of education and, even more amazing, showed no superiority because he had succeeded despite that lack.” Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.” Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
“The higher we are placed, the more humbly should we walk.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties
“He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.” Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
“If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.” Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
“To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“The last proceeding of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity of things which are beyond it.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées
“I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people.” Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“He does not know my other faults, else he would not have mentioned only these.” Epictetus, Enchiridion
“If I turn mine eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest;” William Shakespeare, Richard II
“all the fruit I have reaped from my learning serves only to make me sensible how much I have to learn.” Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
“As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether.” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“My fellow Americans, I stand before you today, humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born by our ancestors.” Barack Obama, Inaugural Address
“Ah, does not every true man feel that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him?” Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
“Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.” Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
“But Nature, it seems, was at the bottom of the affair, and she gains her ends with dogs as well as with men, making us do as she likes, shoving and pulling us along her ways, however rough, all but killing us at times in getting her lessons...” John Muir, Stickeen
“The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause.” Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

Related topics

knowledge education learning self work success blindness satisfaction pride fortune life death truth happiness wisdom God nature strength science loneliness

Related authors

C. S. Lewis (4)
Ernest Hemingway (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
Bertrand Russell (2)
Blaise Pascal (2)
Thomas Carlyle (2)
Epictetus (2)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
Maya Angelou (1)
Carl Sagan (1)
J. D. Salinger (1)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Michel de Montaigne (1)
Confucius (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
Jane Austen (1)
Theodore Roosevelt (1)
Nelson Mandela (1)
Albert Einstein (1)

Related sources

The Old Man and the Sea (3)
Mere Christianity (3)
The Conquest of Happiness (2)
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (2)
Pensées (2)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1)
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1)
Long Walk to Freedom (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
Analects (1)
War and Peace (1)
The Catcher in the Rye (1)
The world as I see it (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)
As You Like It (1)
Ulysses (1)
Inaugural Address (1)
Richard II (1)
The Screwtape Letters (1)