Humility Quotes

I might paraphrase Churchill and say: never have I received so much for so little.[Exemplifying humility, upon accepting the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.]

~ Luis Federico Leloir

It was a lot more fun to get famous than to be famous.

~ Bill Bryson

There is too wide a gap, for most of us, between what we say and what we mean. Between our words and our thoughts. The first thing the Prophet Isaiah said when he saw the living and exalted God was, “Woe is me, I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah was one of the most godly men who ever walked the earth. But seeing God, he sees also, abrupt and stark and grief-making, his own duplicity. Then God does what only God can do: he sears his lips clean (Isaiah 6:6-7). And herein lies our hope: truly seeing God, we truly see ourselves, in all our woe-begotten duplicity; but crying out to God, we are truly and greatly helped.

~ Mark Buchanan

Deeply convinced of the reality of the divine will, he (Lincoln) had no patience at all with any who were perfectly sure they knew the details of the divine will.

~ Elton Trueblood

A major element in Lincoln's greatness was the way in which he could hold a strong moral position without the usual accompaniment of self-righteousness.

~ Elton Trueblood

I have always consoled myself that he such as I who is not a genius, can still achieve much that is useful when he does his work right and chooses his work to suit his talents.

~ Johann Rudolf Wolf

The author describes megalomania as seen in Chairman Mao by saying that what he was familiar with, he was really familiar with. This zeal moved the megalomaniac with a complete lack of appreciation for what he DID NOT know.

~ David Halberstam

Sometimes the best virtue learned on the battlefield is modesty.

~ David Halberstam

Men and women believed and proclaimed God was firmly on their side – and easy and shallow assertion that reduced God to a sort of house deity.

~ Gustav Niebuhr

Fresh from the rarefied environments of Harvard, the author says he purposefully took journalism jobs in small southern towns so that he could learn the art of conversation with ordinary people. Is this gift for listening and for conversation, it seems, that allowed him to produce textured historical narratives of grand impact.

~ David Halberstam

I often think we should have tattooed on the back of whatever hand we use to shoot or write, 'I might be wrong.

~ Louise Penny

People with disabilities are sometimes very humble and approachable, if you want a seasoned reputation, then behave like one of the handicaps.

~ Michael Bassey Johnson

Years later, after other experiences with dogs, I wondered if their species were shaped and charmed to serve as four-legged guides able to assist in leading humanity back to our first—and lost—home. By the example of their joy and humility, by wanting nothing more than food and play and love, by the deep satisfaction that they take from those humble things, they belie all creeds of power and fame. Although they have the teeth to tear, it is by swish of tail and yearning eyes that they most easily get what they want.

~ Dean Koontz

You will only learn in a fight how much you've got to learn.

~ Richard Llewellyn

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

Real Humility is when I can treat a minister, a prince, a priest, a teacher, a waiter and a janitor with the same and equal respect.

~ Jeroninio Almeida

It's better to find success through God, than finding it on one's own merits; some who usually find their own success become boastful, where through God it's with gratitude.

~ Anthony Liccione

Sizing up succinctly his lack of formal education compared with his determination to learn from others, the author writes, I went to college with every person I ever met.

~ Chris Gardner

A man should not glory in what he already knows but in what he has yet to learn.

~ Robert Stephen Parry

Heaven-gates are not so highly arched As princes' palaces, they that enter there Must go upon their knees.

~ John Webster

Our mind cannot be without fear and our head cannot be held high when we become slaves to materialistic values , always wondering why my car is not bigger and better than my neighbours car and in that process forget our human values like dignity, humility , integrity and humanity.

~ Jeroninio Almeida

The minute you think you have the right to belittle others because you think you’re better than them is the same minute you’ve proven you’re worse.

~ Joanne Crisner Alcayaga

True humility is a kind of self-annihilation, and this is the centre of all virtues.

~ John Wesley

If you ask an Irishman for directions, he might be quick to answer, Well if I were going there, I would not start here.

~ Steve Stockman

Appearances, beauty, value and life have their unique mysteries and essence. I prefer that essence to be breathing with humility, honesty, compassion, respect and a timeless love.

~ Angelica Hopes

When people give me a compliment, I just look back and smile, as I am just a glimpse of both my father's. Both earthly and heavenly.

~ Silas Packianathan

You can become the greatest personality in your community by developing the sagacity of humility, teachability, prosperity-mentality and accountability.

~ Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Self-consciousness isn't just A curse. It is part of THE curse.

~ Mark Batterson

It hurt to think that a boy would not have him at his value of himself.

~ Richard Llewellyn

If you can't let go of the power you possess, if you can't surrender it gracefully when it is time to do so, you will most likely abuse it.

~ Donald Cozzens

There is a humility about genuine love that is rather horrible in some ways.

~ George Orwell

Insecurity was never humility, just as arrogance was never success.

~ Shannon L. Alder

The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness.

~ Carlos Castenada

No matter how great you ‘think’ you are or how successful you've become. Never forget those who have lifted you up. Never forget life's experiences, both good and bad which have shaped you as a person. You've had help climbing the rungs of life's ladder. And, those rungs can break at anytime, sending you back down to a place of humility, to remind you of where you came from and how you rose to the top….

~ James A. Murphy

There is no inconsistency when God raises up those who have fallen prostrate.

~ John Calvin

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition and settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.

~ G.k. Chesterton

Peace can only be achieved by a contrite spirit, open communication and tolerance.

~ Shannon L. Alder

Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and author of the Four Spiritual Laws chose three words for his tombstone: slave for Jesus.

~ Kyle Idleman

College was to teach me that I was one of life's journeymen, eager to excel but lacking the requisite gifts.

~ Pat Conroy

The Lord has put more hardships atop the shoulders of my neighbors — more than I can even fathom coping with. I will strive to find a way to turn pity into admiration, for what use is it to send pity back at the world. Admiration and awe are much more helpful, especially when I find myself feeling like a victim for being stuck in traffic or losing my favorite sweater. Perspective is a blessing.

~ Erica Goros