Quotes About Humility

Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education. Thoreau taught, "How can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?" I

How can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?

Ah, how the seeds of cockiness blossom when soiled in ignorance.

None of us should judge anyone, only ourselves. Life is not infinite. A set time defines us all—then, just as the bones in the ossuary showed, to dust we return.

But we are not the center of the universe, you and I, neither as individuals nor as the representatives of the whole human race. God's universe must be considered as one great whole composed of interrelated parts, and its majestic purpose is not the gratification of our puny selves.' 

agreed with Harry Truman. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.

If you use the law to judge others, go ahead, but don't assume that your judgment mimics the judgement of God.

W]e [also] create a … problem when we put people on a pedestal … . Whenever we make anyone – a minister, a teacher, an athlete, a genius, our ancestors, the Buddha – bigger than life, it's easy … to forget that the person you're discussing is a human being. … You'll forget that you're made of the very same stuff they are.

good' crystallised … breeds arrogance and hostility

There is a magnificent intensity in life that comes when we are not in control but are only reacting, living, surviving. I am not a religious man per se...but for me, to go to sea is to get a glimpse of the face of God. At sea I am reminded of my insignificance-of all men's insignificance. It is a wonderful feeling to be so humbled.

The takeaway here is simple but powerful: just because you're great at something doesn't mean you're good at everything. Unfortunately, this fact is routinely ignored by those who engage in—take a deep breath—ultracrepidarianism, or "the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one's knowledge or competence.

Every time we pretend to know something, we are doing the same: protecting our own reputation rather than promoting the collective good. None of us want to look stupid, or at least overmatched, by admitting we don't know an answer.

Simply admit that the future is far less knowable than you think.

It has long been said that the three hardest words to say in the English language are I love you. We heartily disagree! For most people, it is much harder to say I don't know. That's a shame, for until you can admit what you don't yet know, it's virtually impossible to learn what you need to.

That is a lethal combination—cocky plus wrong—especially when a more prudent option exists: simply admit that the future is far less knowable than you think.

The next time you run into a question that you can only pretend to answer, go ahead and say "I don't know"—and then follow up, certainly, with "but maybe I can find out." And work as hard as you can to do that. You may be surprised by how receptive people are to your confession, especially when you come through with the real answer a day or a week later.

For until you can admit what you don't yet know, it's virtually impossible to learn what you need to.

Just because you're great at something doesn't mean you're good at everything.

Until you can admit what you don't yet know, it's virtually impossible to learn what you need to.

It's a stark thought that when we die most of us will leave behind uneaten biscuits, unused coffee, half toilet rolls, half cartons of milk in the fridge to go sour; that everyday functional things will outlive us and prove that we weren't ready to go; that we weren't smart or knowing or heroic; that we were just animals whose animal bodies stopped working without any sort of schedule or any consent from us.

Richard Feynman once wrote, "If you ever hear yourself saying, 'I think I understand this,' that means you don't.

In explaining any human shortcoming, the first tool I reach for is Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Human life has become more precious, while glory, honor, preeminence, manliness, heroism, and other symptoms of excess testosterone have been downgraded.

What about a more abstract sense of "spirituality"? If it consists in gratitude for one's existence, awe at the beauty and immensity of the universe, and humility before the frontiers of human understanding, then spirituality is indeed an experience that makes life worth living—and one that is lifted into higher dimensions by the revelations of science and philosophy.