Humility is a timeless virtue celebrated across cultures and eras. It invites introspection, fosters growth, and nurtures connections with others. In a world dominated by self-promotion and the quest for personal success, embracing humility can be both challenging and rewarding. This collection of quotes explores various facets of humility, offering insights and wisdom from diverse perspectives. Each subtitle delves into a different shade of humility, providing a well-rounded exploration of this essential trait. Through these quotations, you can gain a deeper understanding of how humility can positively impact your life, relationships, and outlook.
Quotes on the Essence of Humility
"True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." - C.S. Lewis
"Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues." - Confucius
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you." - C.S. Lewis
"Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real." - Thomas Merton
"Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying." - St. Vincent de Paul
"Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak." - G.K. Chesterton
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels." - Saint Augustine
"The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility." - Charles Caleb Colton
"With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings." - Ezra Taft Benson
"Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity." - Vanna Bonta
"The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk." - Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Humility is the greatest quality a man can have, and arrogance is undoubtedly the worst." - Maulana Rumi
Inspirational Quotes about Humbleness
"Stay humble, stay hungry, and always be the hardest worker in the room." - Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
"A humble person is more concerned about what is right than about being right." - Stephen Covey
"Humility is the light of understanding." - Swami Sivananda
"Be humble, for you are made of earth. Be noble, for you are made of stars." - Serbian Proverb
"The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them." - Louisa May Alcott
"Only those who test the water find out how deep it is. Just jump in!" - Carl Rogers
"Humbleness is the beginning of wisdom." - Aristotle
"A humble heart is a great home for gratitude." - Marilynn Dawson
"Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"Pride destroys, humility builds." - Ezra Taft Benson
"Humility is not denying your strengths, but admitting your weaknesses." - Rick Warren
"The world tells us to seek success, power, and money; God tells us to seek humility, service, and love." - Pope Francis
Famous Humility Quotes from Historical Figures
"Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader, they set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role, always about the goal." - Lisa Haisha
"Humility is the key to being a truly successful person." - Joyce Meyer
"The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk." - Marcus Tullius Cicero
"He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good." - Confucius
"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." - Ernest Hemingway
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
"Modesty is a shining light; it prepares the mind to receive knowledge, and the heart for truth." - Madame Guizot
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing." - Socrates
"A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing." - Albert Einstein
"In humility, lies true greatness." - Rabindranath Tagore
"Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought." - Simone Weil
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes." - Winston Churchill
Quotes on Humility in Personal Growth
"Humility opens the door to truth." - Swami Sivananda
"To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength." - Criss Jami
"Humility is the greatest quality a man can have." - Christo Becker
"Humbleness is a key component in growth." - Marilynn Dawson
"A humble man is far more likely to be self-confident... a person with real humility knows how much he is loved." - Cornelius Plantinga
"Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness." - Jean Vanier
"Life is a long lesson in humility." - James M. Barrie
"A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing." - Albert Einstein
"If you are humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are." - Mother Teresa
"Wisdom is the reward for overcoming arrogance." - Jonas Salk
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - Confucius
"Humility is the essence of wisdom." - Thomas Aquinas
Humility Quotes for Leadership
"Leadership is not about being in charge. It's about taking care of those in your charge." - Simon Sinek
"Humility is the virtue that reveals the depth of leadership." - John C. Maxwell
"A great man is always willing to be little." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." - John F. Kennedy
"It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse." - Adlai Stevenson II
"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." - John C. Maxwell
"True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve." - Ken Blanchard
"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." - Jim Rohn
"A leader leads by example not by force." - Sun Tzu
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." - Ralph Nader
"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things." - Ronald Reagan
Quotes on Humility and Success
"Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life." - George Arliss
"Success is not a good teacher. Failure makes you humble." - Shah Rukh Khan
"In success, there's a tendency to forget humility." - Michael Douglas
"Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed." - Emily Dickinson
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." - Proverbs 16:18
"The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it." - Criss Jami
"Humility is the greatest quality that a man can have, and arrogance is undoubtedly the worst." - Maulana Rumi
"One must not forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy
"Celebrate your success, but never let it lead to arrogance." - Dan Brown
"The more humble a man is, the freer he is from any notions of greatness." - Blaise Pascal
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." - Arnold H. Glasow
"Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time." - George Bernard Shaw
Reflective Quotes on Humble Living
"The humble person is one who can transcend ego and value other things above self-interest." - Dalai Lama
"Humble living is life in connection with the things and people surrounding us." - Leo Babauta
"Humility is the essence of love." - Alessandro Manzoni
"Be content with what you have and let no one distract you from your course." - Buddha
"Humility is not about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." - C.S. Lewis
"A humble man is always cheerful." - George Santayana
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" - Martin Luther King Jr.
"A little humility makes even excellent qualities more gracious in people." - Louisa May Alcott
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." - Muhammad Ali
"To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic." - Alphonse de Lamartine
"Modesty is a shining light; it prepares the mind to receive knowledge, and the heart for truth." - Madame Guizot
Quotes on Humility in Relationships
"The only way to have a friend is to be one." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Humility in relationships is the secret to all good relationships." - Stephen R. Covey
"Love is the virtuous attachment to another self." - Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" - C.S. Lewis
"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart, forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits." - Hannah More
"Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity." - Vanna Bonta
"Deep and enduring relationships depend on humility." - Henna Inam
"The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but hold hands." - Alexandra Penney
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." - Proverbs 15:1
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you." - Dale Carnegie
"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives." - C.S. Lewis
Quotes on Humility and Wisdom
"Humility is the fearless admission that we are not perfect and allows us to keep a sense of wonder." - Anonymous
"To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true wisdom." - Confucius
"Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk." - Doug Larson
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." - William Shakespeare
"Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom." - Francis Bacon
"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power." - Lao Tzu
"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have." - Vince Lombardi
"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom." - Phyllis Theroux
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates
"Humble yourself before God, and wait for His timing in everything." - Joyce Meyer
"An intelligent man will open your mind, a beautiful man will open your eyes, and a loving kind man will open your heart." - Anonymous
Quotes on Humility and Inner Peace
"Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"Humility brings great peace even in turbulent times." - Rodney Williams
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." - Rick Warren
"One cannot reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others." - Lao Tzu
"Humility, that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot." - Thomas Moore
"The greatest wealth is to live content with little." - Plato
"Feeling at peace with oneself is a direct result of practicing humility." - James Allen
"Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind." - Buddha
"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good." - James Allen
"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." - Nelson Mandela
"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature." - Socrates
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." - Dalai Lama
Final words
As we traverse the multifaceted journey of life, embracing humility emerges as a profound and empowering choice. It bridges the gap between self-assuredness and sensitivity, allows us to cherish wisdom, and fosters genuine connections with others. The tapestry of quotes presented herein underscores that humility is not merely a destination, but a practice inviting constant evolution. By cultivating humility, we open ourselves to learn continuously, grow genuinely, and lead conscientiously. Serene in its presence, humility beckons us to discover greatness through service, influence through understanding, and peace through acceptance. As we glean from these insights, may humility guide your path, nurturing a peaceful and fulfilled existence.