Quotes About Humility

When you've lived as long as I have, you tend to think you've heard everything, that there's nothing left that can shock you anymore. You grow a little complacent about your so-called knowledge of the world, and then, every once in a while, something comes along that jolts you out of your smug cocoon of superiority, that reminds you all over again that you don't understand the first thing about life.

He learned how to look at himself from a distance, to see himself first of all as a man among other men, then as a collection of random particles of matter, and finally as a single speck of dust—and the farther he traveled from his point of origin, she said, the closer he came to achieving greatness.

And I am nothing if not a stupid, stupid man.

Ha az ember annyi id?t megélt, mint én, hajlamos azt hinni, már mindent hallott, nincs már, ami megdöbbentse. Önelégülten hiszi, hogy ismeri a világot, aztán id?nként jön valami, ami kirántja a fels?bbrend? önelégültség gubójából, ami újra emlékezteti, hogy kutyagumit se tud az életr?l.

Quando hai vissuto a lungo come me tendi a pensare di aver ascoltato di tutto, di non poterti più stupire di nulla. Ti viene pure voglia di vantarti della tua esperienza del mondo e poi, ogni tanto, ti ritrovi di fronte a qualcosa che ti catapulta fuori dal bozzolo di goduta superiorità, ricordandoti da capo che della vita non capisci un bel niente.

2.Does the church in America have the humility to learn from us, or do they consider themselves to be the world's teacher? 3.Does the American church have the magnanimous spirit to work alongside us in genuine partnership that is based upon mutual respect and shared resources, or do they simply see us as their "partners" to fulfill their plans in our countries?

Tame the assertiveness. Those of us who carry the Western "can-do" spirit, especially those of us from the United States, need to learn how to go into the world to serve rather than to lead. Although I've referred to the positive power of Western optimism, we need to tame it.

Genuine servanthood. Too often, we who go to serve on crosscultural short-term missions practice self-congratulatory servanthood. We live in the hut, eat the local food, endure the heat and use the squat toilet, all the time quietly congratulating ourselves on our willingness to serve.

If outer events bring him to a position where he can bear them no longer and force him to cry out to the higher power in helplessness for relief, or if inner feelings bring humiliation and recognition of his dependence on that power, this crushing of the ego may open the door to grace.

Accept the long night patiently, quietly, humbly, and resignedly as intended for your true good. It is not a punishment for sin committed but an instrument of annihilating egoism.

Such excessive preoccupation with his faults is not a truly spiritual activity but, on the contrary, a highly egoistic one.The recognition of his own faults should make a man humbler, when it is beneficial, not prouder, which the thought that he ought to have been above these faults makes him.

O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome; And when I am stretched beneath the pines, Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, At the sophist schools and the learned clan; For what are they all, in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet. —Ralph Waldo Emerson.

When Jesus told John the Baptist, "Perform this baptism on Me," John the Baptist replied, "Yes Sir, I will do so.

The awareness of our own strength makes us modest.

Many times expecting personal transformation to happen without humility is like expecting a car to move forward without fuel.

Every time you ask for forgiveness, you recognize that the biggest problems you face in life exist inside of you, not outside of you.

God hasn't just sent you to do his work in the lives of your children; he will use the lives of your children to advance his work in you.

You are most humble and gentle when you think that the person you are ministering to is more like you than unlike you. When you have inserted yourself into another category that tends to make you think you have arrived, it is very easy to be judgmental and impatient.

Change is not found in defending our righteousness, but in admitting our weakness and crying for help.

The minute you hear a sermon on materialism, you're glad somebody else is there to hear it.

You will treat the weaknesses and failures of others with grace when you humbly admit that you're more like them than unlike them.

Weakness is not the problem, but my delusion of my strengths is.

If my heart is ever going to be freed of grumbling and ruled by gratitude, I need your grace: grace to remember, grace to see, grace that produces a heart of humble joy.

I understand why many people who call themselves Christians are not excited about grace. If you think your environment is your problem, you won't esteem grace, but once you admit that you're your biggest problem, you will celebrate the grace that rescues you from you.