Sayings about Humility

Too much humility is pride. ~ German Proverbs

Don’t look for more honor than your learning merits. ~ Jewish Proverbs

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ~ Bible

By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches, and honour, and life. ~ Bible

Spoil not an act of kindness by speaking of it. ~ Tamil proverbs

If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings. ~ Welsh Proverbs

The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can’t live without him is even more deluded. ~ Hasidic Saying

Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man. ~ Native American Proverbs

Before honor is humility. ~ Bible

Sweep before your own door first before you sweep before the doorsteps of your neighbors. ~ Norwegian Proverbs

A boaster and a liar are cousins. ~ German proverb

Quotations about Humility

Business image created by Katemangostar – Freepik.com

I am afraid humility to genius is as an extinguisher to a candle. ~ William Shenstone

To have humility is to experience reality, not in relation to ourselves, but in its sacred independence. ~ Dag Hammarkjold

Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself; it is simply not thinking of yourself at all. ~ Warren W. Wiersbe

Humility means accepting reality with no attempt to outsmart it. ~ David Richo

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. ~ Thomas Merton

The street is full of humiliations to the proud. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues: hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. ~ Augustine Of Hippo

True humility–the basis of the Christian system–is the low but deep and firm foundation of all virtues. ~ Edmund Burke

True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue. ~ Martin Luther

They are proud in humility, proud that they are not proud. ~ Robert Burton

Without humility there can be no humanity. ~ John Buchan

Humility is a grace that shines in a high condition but cannot, equally, in a low one because a person in the latter is already, perhaps, too much humbled. ~ Samuel Richardson

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Humility leads to the highest distinction, because it leads to self-improvement. ~ Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie

Humility is also a healing virtue; it will cicatrize a thousand wounds, which pride would keep forever open. ~ Washington Allston

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all. ~ William Temple

Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation. ~ Edmund Burke

Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue. ~ St. John Chrysostom

Humility is like underwear; essential, but indecent if it shows. ~ Helen Nielsen

Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them. ~ John Jay McCloy

I have sounded the very base-string of humility. ~ William Shakespeare

Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Real excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other, on the contrary they are twin sisters. ~ Henri-Dominique Lacordaire

Humility is indeed beatness, a compulsory virtue that no one exhibits unless he has to. ~ William S. Burroughs

Humility is the scent of God purifying His world of the stench of pride. ~ Janice T. Connell

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear. ~ John Selden

Be very sure that no man will learn anything at all unless he first will learn humility. ~ Owen Meredith

Nothing can be further apart than true humility and servility. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Life is a long lesson in humility. ~ J.M. Barrie

True humility is having the understanding that, even as a small seed, we are still an important part of the greater plan. ~ Tanya Copprue

Humility with energy is often mistaken for pride. ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater

Sense shines with a double lustre when it is set in humility. An able and yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom. ~ William Penn

Be mindful of humility: the gale that breaks the pine does not bruise the violet. ~ Austin O’Malley

What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us; it creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with God. ~ Monica Baldwin

He that places himself neither higher nor lower than he ought to do exercises the truest humility. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left. ~ Oscar Levant

I believe the first test of a truly great man is humility. ~ John Ruskin

Humility is a cuirass which turns aside the blows dealt by the enmity of man; but that cuirass is defective at the heart. ~ Madame Swetchine

In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention. ~ Simone Weil

Perfect humility dispenses with modesty. ~ C. S. LEWIS

There is much proud humility and humble pride in the world! ~ James Lendall Basford

True love is the parent of a noble humility. ~ William Ellery Channing

If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect. ~ Ted Turner

Humility like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights. ~ Henry David Thoreau

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. ~ St. Augustine

Humility is the oil that smoothes and soothes relationships. ~ Richard Warren

Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues. ~ Confucius

Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else. ~ Madeleine L’Engle

Humility is a virtue when you have no other. ~ Edward Abbey

Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life. ~ George Arliss

If you would like to live in a community in which you may have pride, then dedicate yourself in a spirit of humility and your responsibilities in that community. ~ Herbert Prochnow

Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer Him His sacrifices. ~ Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld

Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast. ~ Jane Austen

Humility is eldest-born of Virtue, and claims the birthright at the throne of heaven. ~ Arthur Murphy

The grace that makes every grace amiable is humility. ~ Samuel Richardson

Humility and resignation are our prime virtues. ~ John Dryden

Humility is the first of the virtues–for other people. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Humility is a healthy balance between pride and self-devaluation. ~ J. Maurus

Humility is no substitute for a good personality. ~ Fran Lebowitz

Many persons, when exalted, assume an insolent humility, who behaved before with an insolent haughtiness. ~ William Shenstone

In humility imitate Jesus and Socrates. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends. ~ Dwight Eisenhower

Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is. ~ Bill Wilson

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. ~ John Ruskin