Humility -- the quality of being humble -- is elusive. Yes, we still want to be confident in ourselves. Yes, we should still be able to be proud inside when we work hard to accomplish something good. It is not a black and white thing though - many shades of gray. Perhaps it means not crowing about yourself too much, and recognizing that other people are also doing great things, and acknowledging that you are not always right or the best at something. There is always someone who is even better. Ultimately, I think it means yes, we should love ourselves and our accomplishments, but never if it means putting the needs of others before ourselves or if it belittles others or if we have thoughts that we might be better than others. We're all on this planet the same and all striving and all doing our best and each fighting our own battles.
We have assembled the best quotes on humility and being humble we could find. We hope you like them and that they are helpful to you. Definitely pondering them will help one get a better understanding of humility than our attempt at a definition (-:
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.
Never let success go to your head, and never let failures go to your heart.
When I look at a person, I see a person -- not a rank, not a class, not a title.
I know it makes no sense, but believe me it is true: to be soft is to be strong, to be humble is to be great, and to be generous is to be wealthy.
True humility means giving joy to others.
Being humble is cooler than being famous.
He who truly knows has no occasion to shout.
A vulgar mind is proud in prosperity and humble in adversity. A noble mind is humble in prosperity and proud in adversity.
Selflessness is humility. Humility and freedom go hand in hand. Only a humble person can be free.
Your own rags are better than another's gown.
Better yourself before others.
When we presume that we are better than people who need structure and guidance, we lack one of the most crucial ingredients for change: humility.
My strength is my humility. When you are humble, people like you.
Humility is truth.
Humility is the oil that smoothes and soothes relationships.
Longer Version:
To have humility is to experience reality, not in relation to ourselves, but in its sacred independence. It is to see, judge, and act from the point of rest in ourselves. Then, how much disappears, and all that remains falls into place.
In the point of rest at the center of our being, we encounter a world where all things are at rest in the same way. Then a tree becomes a mystery, a cloud a revelation, each man a cosmos of whose riches we can only catch glimpses. The life of simplicity is simple, but it opens to us a book in which we never get beyond the first syllable.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
Longer Version:
Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.
Humility and Gratitude are the twin characteristics of happiness.
Practice humility and patience.
Cease to be a disobedient child in the school of experience, and begin to learn, with humility and patience, the lessons that are set for your ultimate perfection.
Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason.
May any praise of your character come from others instead of yourself.
True humility scarcely ever utters words of humility.
True humility is more like self-forgetfulness than false modesty.
True humility is absolute obedience and dependence on God. It puts Him first, others second, and ourselves third in all things.
Compassion directed toward oneself is true humility.
Love's humility is love's true pride.
God hath sworn to lift on high Who sinks himself by true humility.
Being humble matters.
Humble living does not diminish. It fills. Going back to a simpler self gives wisdom.
Be humble, or you'll stumble.
It's easy to reach the top. You have to bow.
Humble new beginnings do exist, but to begin, you must be humble. Nothing ever stays the same.
Be humble. Not stupid.
Respect is sweeter when you earn it; you lose respect when you demand respect.
Shy people don't say they are shy. Humble people don't say they are humble. If someone does, read again.
The ego is such a clever thing it even possesses a set of humble clothes.
When it feels like we need to choose between being right and being humble- pick both.
The more holy, the more humble.
Never forget the favors done for you. Always forget the favors you've done for others.
The ocean humbles you. You can go and win a world title, but you're never going to beat the ocean.
Self-confidence may be mistaken for egotism if it is not accompanied by humility of the heart.
It is always the secure who are humble.
A genuinely humble person humbles himself even before those who should be humbled by his presence.
Perhaps, a sin that humbles you is better than a good deed that makes you arrogant.
The best route is to stay humble and stay true to yourself.
Good things come in small packages.
Humility is not disgraceful, and carries no loss of true pride.
A sign of a lover of wisdom is his delight in not running his mouth about things he doesn't know.
He is as full of valor as of kindness. Princely in both.
Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself.
The greatest wisdom consists in knowing one's own follies.
Nothing is more deceitful, said Darcy, than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.
One that does not think too highly of himself is more than he thinks.
Sense shines with double lustre when set in humility.
Longer Version:
Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle.
Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.
We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.
Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser.
After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.
One learns to ignore criticism by first learning to ignore applause.
Less is more.
Pride divides the men, humility joins them.
Trustful people are the pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness.
The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.
Humility, like gratitude, is not so much a technique as it is a way of life.
We can't bring anything to us unless we are grateful for what we already have.
All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power.
I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.
Just remember, when someone has an accent, it means that he knows one more language than you do.
On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.
Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.
It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.
In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart.
There is beauty and humility in imperfection.
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
Modesty is a lubricant for unpleasant intrusions.
Humility wins. Love conquers.
Arrogance repels. Humility inspires.
Work hard, stay humble.
Never curse a fall. The ground is where humility lives.
A true genius admits that he or she knows nothing.
There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.
Humility, like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.
Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.
True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.
To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Don't seek praise. Let your effort speak for itself.
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.
Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.
