219 Quotes About Modesty

Humans are the most important entity in the universe … only to most people.

We are sometimes humbled by the realization that, unlike their house, someone’s bank balance or paycheck is bigger than ours.

I've never met a soldier who knew he was a hero. It's not false modesty. They simply decide to do something that they know they must do, usually for there comrades, because if they don't, those people will suffer in some way. For them, that compulsion is far stronger than any fear. The fact we find it exceptional is a sad indictment of the human race. I'd like to live in a world of heroes. If we did, there would be no wars.

Modesty is only arrogance by stealth.

Unlike Kim Cardassian or Donald Trump, Montaigne regarded the inward glance as an adventure in self-effacement not self infatuation. He was a charming and perceptive critic of his own foibles, especially alert to his weakness for inconsistency.

You don’t want modesty, you want humility. Humility comes from inside out. It says someone was here before me and I’m here because I’ve been paid for. I have something to do and I will do that because I’m paying for someone else who has yet to come.

Intellectual modesty is humility as to what I know; intellectual humility is modesty as to what I do not know

To confess your fallibility and then do nothing about it is not humble; it is boasting of your modesty.

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