Best 2588 quotes in «humility quotes» category

Management" of anything as complicated as a woods requires more humility than comes easily to our species, at least in its American incarnation.

Martin Luther used to say temptation is the best teacher for a minister.

Mary-born Lord, humble us so that we also might say, "Let it be with me according to your word.

Mary was proud of her husband, not merely because he was a musician, but because he was a blacksmith. For, with the true taste of a right woman, she honored the manhood that could do hard work. The day will come, and may I do something to help it hither, when the youth of our country will recognize that, taken in itself, it is a more manly, and therefore in the old true sense a more _gentle_ thing, to follow a good handicraft, if it make the hands black as a coal, than to spend the day in keeping books, and making up accounts, though therein the hands should remain white--or red, as the case may be. Not but that, from a higher point of view still, all work, set by God, and done divinely, is of equal honor; but, where there is a choice, I would gladly see boy of mine choose rather to be a blacksmith, or a watchmaker, or a bookbinder, than a clerk. Production, making, is a higher thing in the scale of reality, than any mere transmission, such as buying and selling. It is, besides, easier to do honest work than to buy and sell honestly. The more honor, of course, to those who are honest under the greater difficulty! But the man who knows how needful the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," knows that he must not be tempted into temptation even by the glory of duty under difficulty. In humility we must choose the easiest, as we must hold our faces unflinchingly to the hardest, even to the seeming impossible, when it is given us to do.

Many times when we help we do not really serve. . . . Serving is also different from fixing. One of the pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, Abraham Maslow, said, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere, to sit in judgment of life itself. When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers trust their own expertise. When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it. Others may then be able to see their wholeness for themselves for the first time.

Martin Luther was a thoroughly educated man but he wore this lightly. His sermons were littered with only examples and improving tales, drawing equally from the fables of Aesop and the follies of life he observed all around him.

May any praise of your character come from others instead of yourself.

Men seek a great deal, but fatally close, albeit very different, is one's pride in proving oneself right with one's zeal for finding the truth.

Modern life seems to recede further and further away from nature, and closely connected with this fact we seem to be losing the feeling of reverence towards nature. It is probably inevitable when science and machinery, capitalism and materialism go hand in hand so far in a most remarkably successful manner. Mysticism, which is the life of religion in whatever sense we understand it, has come to be relegated altogether in the background. Without a certain amount of mysticism there is no appreciation for the feeling of reverence, and, along with it, for the spiritual significance of humility. Science and scientific technique have done a great deal for humanity; but as far as our spiritual welfare is concerned we have not made any advances over that attained by our forefathers. In fact we are suffering at present the worst kind of unrest all over the world.

Most Africans whom we consider primitive are humble

Modesty has, and will remain, an alluring trait because where egoism falters, humility conquers.

Maybe the best way for you to get us to summon our better selves is for you to show us yours.

Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual guru. Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away; it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline. "Now, what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely. So that kind of power has a built-in control. The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won't abuse it.

Most insensible, corrupt, cheap, disrespectful young girls run after bad, rude, cocky, nonsensical boys, but a mature, educated, thoughtful, virtuos lady opts for a wise, well breed, experienced, humble, modest gentleman.

Moksha (the ultimate liberation) is through absolute humility. One is not expected to perform any action; one needs to come into absolute humility.

My circumstances will sometimes be pleasant and sometimes be difficult, but teach me that the way I react to them is almost more important than the circumstances themselves. Renew my mind, Lord, and enable me to respond with joy and humility to whatever happens, as Jesus did.

Mrs. Crupp had indignantly assured him that there wasn't room to swing a cat there; but as Mr. Dick justly observed to me, [...] "You know, Trotwood, I don't want to swing a cat. I never do swing a cat. Therefore, what does that signify to me!

My dear Sir. Yours of the 13th. is just received. My engagements are such that I can not, at any very early day, visit Rock-Island, to deliver a lecture, or for any other object. As to the other matter you kindly mention, I must, in candor, say I do not think myself fit for the Presidency. I certainly am flattered, and gratified, that some partial friends think of me in that connection; but I really think it best for our cause that no concerted effort, such as you suggest, should be made. Let this be considered confidential. Yours very truly, {Abraham Lincoln}

My dear, here is lesson number one for using opportunity; waste no time on false humility. Tell the world about your achievements don't wait for someone else to do it.

My knees will not tremble at the sight of a King but I will kneel down before a man of humility.

Never look down on someone because God himself does not do so. No matter what defines the status, nationality or gender of a person, once God's spirit is in him/her, he or she becomes a complete creature with complete potentials!

Most people who approach true spiritual mastery are not interested in being leaders. At the same time, there are people who are highly visible when, rather than being true masters of spirituality and metaphysics, they are merely exhibiting the symptoms of an extroverted personality.

My own spirit, soul, and body are my nearest machinery for sacred service.

My point is that humility should never be confused with mediocrity. Perfect holiness is the purpose for which we were created, so we can't allow ourselves to be comfortable with the status quo. The minimum is not enough.

Narcissists are everywhere in this ripe age of self-love, which amazes me because so much in life would seem to foster humility.

Never pupil was more humble, never pupil more obedient; thinking nothing of himself or of anything he had done or could do, his path was open to the swiftest and highest growth. It matters little where a man may be at this moment; the point is whether he is growing. The next point will be, whether he is growing at the ratio given him. The key to the whole thing is _obedience_, and nothing else.

Never step on caterpillars, as one day, they'll become butterflies and you'll never know when you'll need a ride on its wings of fortune.

Never wear pride as the jersey of your dreams. You will miss the goal and lose your dreams if you put on pride!

Nietzsche tended to equate the memorable with the painful.

Nixon under pressure turned only to reporters from publications already favorable to him; Kennedy, in trouble, turned to those most critical and dubious of him, and if anything tended to take those already for him a bit for granted.

Nemed was a smart kid, but like almost all kids he operated under the delusion that adults were genuinely as knowledgeable and certain as they pretended to be in front of kids.

Never miss an opportunity to be truly and deeply humiliated! The shame will carve you down to an individual of exquisite layering, and in the process, etch within you the arcs of exceptional narrative.

[...] non è effetto alcuna in natura, per minimo che e' sia, all'intera cognizion del quale possano arrivare i piú specolativi ingegni. Questa cosí vana prosunzione d'intendere il tutto non può aver principio da altro che dal non avere inteso mai nulla, perché, quando altri avesse esperimentato una volta sola a intender perfettamente una sola cosa ed avesse gustato veramente come è fatto il sapere, conoscerebbe come dell'infinità dell'altre conclusioni niuna ne intende.

No man exists without an atom of ego in him and no man exists without an atom of humility in him.

No one is great on science and ignorance and no one is great on the right or the wrong

No one is charismatic. Someone becomes charismatic in history, socially. The question for me is once again the problem of humility. If the leader discovers that he is becoming charismatic not because of his or her qualities but because mainly he or she is being able to express the expectations of a great mass of people, then he or she is much more of a translator of the aspirations and dreams of the people, instead of being the creator of the dreams. In expressing the dreams, he or she is recreating these dreams. If he or she is humble, I think that the danger of power would diminish.

No one is great on science and ignorance and no one is great on right or wrong

No person is great in isolation. It takes many hands to shape a life. Denial would mean conceit, and conceit is not the same as self-respect.

None of us can accomplish our dreams without the help of others. Is it more important for you to feel superior and self-sufficient than to accomplish your dreams within a community of supporters?

Not everybody has that non-self-humility, not everybody has that existence-self-ego.

... no sensitive Christian can be satisfied with a distinction between righteousness and unrighteousness drawn only between communities, with each individual belonging unambiguously on one or the other side of the line. The behavior of "the righteous" is often very disappointing, while "the unrighteous" regularly perform in a manner that is much better than our theology might lead us to expect of them. Thus the need for a perspective that allows for both a rather slow process of sanctification in the Christian life and some sort of divine restraint on the power of sin in the unbelieving community. These theological adjustments to a religious perspective that might otherwise betray strong Manichean tones provide us with yet another reason for openness to a broad-ranging dialogue: Christians have good grounds for believing that their own weakness can be corrected by encountering the strengths of others.

No reproach for a person willing to give honorable service in the passion to become wise.

Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion and somethings an indirect boast.

Nothing frustrates people more than a cocky guy who's still winning.

Nothing humbles a rich man better than not being wanted by a woman whose man is poor.

Nothing is more scandalous than a man that is proud of his humility.

Not ordinarily do men achieve this balance of opposites. The idealists are not usually realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. The militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant. Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self assertive humble. ...truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis that reconciles the two.

Not one thing we've done changes that we are his. That he created us and loves us with a love more fierce and loyal than any we will ever know. He isn't looking for perfection. He's looking for humble hearts that know we are nothing without his lavish grace.

Nothing will be attained from actions of hundreds of thousands of lives. Moksha (liberation) is attained through ‘absolute humility’ (param vinaya). The ‘gates of understanding’ are opened with ‘absolute humility’. ‘Absolute humility’ arises only when the ego is dissolved.

Often, your mentors are already in your life; you just haven’t yet found a way to learn from them.