Modesty Quotes

There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.

~ Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Every writer on this planet THINKS he is a great writer (why waste your entire life writing when you believe you are mediocre?) but its deemed socially unacceptable to actually speak out such thoughts. So, modesty is always a public concept and not an inner one. For that reason alone 'modesty' can actually be said to be the product of a large ego, for the ego is primarily concerned with survival and society rewards this dishonesty and tends to punish honesty (see Camus)

~ Martijn Benders

Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

Unaffected modesty is the sweetest charm of female excellence, the richest gem in the diadem of her honor.

~ Noah Webster

When David Markson wrote in June to complain about an author's getting an award he though should have been his, Wallace gently warned him away from the pitfall of envy: Mostly I try to remember how lucky I am to be able to write, and doubly, triply lucky I am that anyone else is willing to read it, to say nothing of publishing it. I'm no pollyanna - this keeping-the-spirits-up shit is hard work, and I don't often do it well. But I try... Life is good

~ D.t. Max

Pantaloons were often worn tight as paint and were not a great deal less revealing, particularly as they were worn without underwear. . . . Jackets were tailored with tails in the back, but were cut away in front so that they perfectly framed the groin. It was the first time in history that men's apparel was consciously designed to be more sexy than women's.

~ Bill Bryson

Victorian rigidities were such that ladies were not even allowed to blow out candles in mixed company, as that required them to pucker their lips suggestively. They could not say that they were going to bed--that planted too stimulating an image--but merely that they were retiring. It became effectively impossible to discuss clothing in even a clinical sense without resort to euphemisms. Trousers became nether integuments or simply inexpressibles and underwear was linen. Women could refer among themselves to petticoats or, in hushed tones, stockings, but could mention almost nothing else that brushed bare flesh.

~ Bill Bryson

Like it or not, we are trendsetters. Just as every fashion model ever to strut the runway, we affect the minds of others by what we wear. With usch power it's vital to question ourselves: 'Am I an example of Christ-centeredness? Or have I just gotten comfortable in the Christian routine and forgotten why I've chosen to live this way?

~ Hannah Farver

Life humbles the rich by giving them problems that money can’t resolve, or, dissolve.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Modesty is only arrogance by stealth.

~ Terry Pratchett

Reading leads to knowing more. Knowing more leads to arrogance. Reading further leads to humbleness.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others.

~ Robert Schumann

The proper name for the thing is modesty; but as we live in an age of prejudice and must not call things by their right names, we will yield to a more modern nomenclature and call it dignity.

~ G.k. Chesterton

At least I have the modesty to admit that lack of modesty is one of my failings.

~ Hector Berlioz

No age, sex, or condition is above or below the absolute necessity of modesty; but without it one is vastly beneath the rank of man.

~ Bernard Barton

Architecture is a rare collective profession: it's always exercised by groups. There is an essential modesty, which is a complete contradiction to the notion of a star.

~ Rem Koolhaas

Some are blessed with musical ability, others with good looks. Myself, I was blessed with modesty.

~ Roger Moore

There are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance.

~ Arthur Helps