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Humility quotes

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“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” - 1623

“I speak to you as just another human being; as a simple monk.” 14th Dalai Lama, “Nobel Lecture” - 1989

“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” - 1952

“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” - 1949

“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” - 1930

“The higher we are placed, the more humbly should we walk.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Duties” - 44 BC

“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” - 1952

“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” - 1913

“The last proceeding of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity of things which are beyond it.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“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” - 1951

“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” - 1615

“I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.” Mark Twain, “Life on the Mississippi” - 1883

“Nothing is more deceitful . . . than the appearance of humility.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“A great man is always willing to be little.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation” - 1841

“To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, few doubtingly of scepticism.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“To learn one must be humble. But life is the great teacher.” James Joyce, “Ulysses” - 1922

“All we can know is that we know nothing.” Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace” - 1869

“If I turn mine eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest;” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“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” - 1952

“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” - 1952

“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” - 1969

“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” - 1930

“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” - 1897

“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” - 1791

“I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known.” Confucius, “Analects”

“The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.” Thomas Carlyle, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History” - 1841

“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” - 1841

“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” - 20 January 2009

“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” - 1952

“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” - 1942

Related topics

knowledge blindness success pride fortune work satisfaction self strength wisdom death life trust sacrifice reason appearance truth foolishness modesty God

Related authors

C. S. Lewis (4)
Ernest Hemingway (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
Bertrand Russell (2)
Thomas Carlyle (2)
Blaise Pascal (2)
Jane Austen (1)
James Joyce (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Albert Einstein (1)
Maya Angelou (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
John Muir (1)
Theodore Roosevelt (1)
Benjamin Franklin (1)
Confucius (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
Barack Obama (1)
Marcus Tullius Cicero (1)
14th Dalai Lama (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)
As You Like It (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
Richard II (1)
The world as I see it (1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1)
Stickeen (1)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)
Analects (1)
Inaugural Address (1)
On Duties (1)
Nobel Lecture (1)
The Catcher in the Rye (1)
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1)
Life on the Mississippi (1)