Quotes About Humility

Dame, Oh Dios, fuerzas para hacer que mi amor sea fructífero y útil. Dame fuerzas para no despreciar jamás al pobre ni plegar mis rodillas ante el poder insolente. Dame fuerzas para levantar el espíritu bien alto, por encima de las banalidades cotidianas. Dame fuerzas para que me humille, con amor ante ti.

Wer wird Weihnachten recht feiern? Wer alle Gewalt, alle Ehre, alles Ansehen, alle Eitelkeit, allen Hochmut, alle Eigenwilligkeit endlich niederlegt an der Krippe.

Wo anders sollen wir die Gnade suchen für alle Untreue, allen Kleinglauben, alles Versagen als in der Niedrigkeit Gottes in der Krippe?

Wisdom fears no thing, but still bows humbly to its own source, with its deeper understanding, loves all things, for it has seen the beauty, the tenderness, and the sweetness which underlie Life's mystery

I never wanted to be the most famous, the most beautiful, the most extravagant.

God said to him [Eblis], 'You have become proud.' He replied, 'If I had been with you but a moment my pride would have been justified; I have been with you for centuries.

Let a man accept with confidence valuable knowledge even from a person of low degree, good instruction regarding duty even from a humble man, and a jewel of a wife even from an ignoble family.

Pride not thyself on thy religious works, Give to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts: By pride religious merit melts away, The merit of thy alms, by ostentation.

Habíamos dormido en casas campesinas, humildes, sintiendo el roce de la piedra al lado de la almohada, el correteo de los ratones, el extraño crujir de las camas transportando suspiros desde los cuartos matrimoniales, los pasos balbucientes de un anciano y el sonido de caracola del orinal en la noche, el saúco en lucha contra el viento en la ventana, el ir y el venir de las contraseñas centinelas de los perros.

He is therefore free to use me to give a good thought to a soul; and if I think this inspiration belongs to me, I would be like "the donkey carrying the relics"313 who believed the reverence paid to the saints was being directed to him.

It is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender.

Amen, I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3).

We really have to ask for indispensable things, but when we do it with humility, we are not failing in the commandment of Jesus; on the contrary, we are acting like the poor who extend their hand [10] to receive what is necessary for them; if they are rebuked they are not surprised, as no one owes them anything.

My mortifications consisted in breaking my will, always so ready to impose itself on others, in holding back a reply, in rendering little services without any recognition, in not leaning my back against a support when seated, etc., etc. It was through the practice of these nothings that I [15]prepared myself to become the fiancée of Jesus,

God made me [32r°] feel that true glory is that which will last eternally, and to reach it, it isn't necessary to perform striking works but to hide oneself and practice virtue in such a way that the left hand knows not what the right is doing.62

I was an abusive, selfish, needy, angry asshole. Now I'm just kind of selfish, a little less angry, occasionally needy, with flights of asshole. I've grown.

That's an animal fable about humility. If you survive your mistake, you must learn from it. Accept that you're fragile, vulnerable, and sometimes stupid. Realize that you're not immortal and you've got to take care of yourself. And then laugh it off and fly away.

Indeed, the point of the famous story about the king and the waves, as originally told, was not to illustrate his stupidity, but rather to prove what a good Christian he had been. 'Let all the world know', says a damp Cnut, having conspicuously failed to stop the tide from rising, 'that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and sea obey eternal laws.'2

Quand on ne sait pas grand chose, on est toujours cruel pour ceux qui savent encore moins.

My grandmother] was so humble of heart and so gentle that her tenderness for others and her disregard for herself and her own troubles blended in a smile which, unlike those seen on the majority of human faces, bore no trace of irony save for herself, while for all of us kisses seemed to spring from her eyes, which could not look upon those she loved without seeming to bestow upon them passionate caresses.

Do you imagine that the poisonous spittle of five hundred little men of your sort, hoisted on to each other's shoulders, could even drool down on to the tips of my august toes?

pretention is very close to stupidity and that simplicity has a less visible but still gratifying aspect.

That who advances his glory, not their own,   Them he himself to glory will advance.

Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? And what creature of all that the Lord has taken the pains to make is not essential to the completeness of that unit — the cosmos?