29 Humility Quotes To Awaken Your Best Self

Think of the last conversation you had that ended in angry words or harsh criticism. I’m willing to bet pride was at the helm.

It’s usually there when we’re sidelining empathy to protect ourselves from being hurt or to punish someone else for making us feel small. 

It gets in the way of listening and understanding. Humility doesn’t come naturally. Pride and selfishness, on the other hand… easy as breathing. 

So, we’ve collected 29 humility quotes from people who’ve learned the vital importance of putting love and understanding before ego. 

29 Humility Quotes to Awaken Your Best Self

“Humility will open more doors than arrogance ever will.” — Zig Ziglar

“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” — Socrates

“Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life.” — George Arliss

“Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” — Jesse Jackson

“True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.”― Martin Luther

“Perfection is impossible without humility. Why should I strive for perfection, if I am already good enough?” — Leo Tolstoy

“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.” — Phillips Brooks

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” — Ernest Hemingway

“Humility means accepting reality with no attempt to outsmart it.” ― David Richo

“Pride and vanity, the opposites of humility, can destroy our spiritual health as surely as a debilitating disease can destroy our physical health.”– Joseph B. Wirthlin

“I think humility – which I think is a very good value to adopt – is basically an extension of understanding your own ignorance.” — Mark Manson

“Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves.” — William Law

“When stepped on, the worm curls up. That is a clever thing to do. Thus it reduces its chances of being stepped on again. In the language of morality: humility.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self.”– T.S. Eliot


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“Humility has to do with trying to be a vessel of purposes you're content to understand as not your own.” —David Milch

“It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility.”– Tariq Ramadan

“Stand in utter humility at the sight of your true potential for mastery.”– Robin Sharma

“The proud man can learn humility, but he will be proud of it.” -Mignon McLaughlin

a quote by Lev Grossman humility quotes
“When it comes to true humility in the face of history, nothing beats complete silence.” — Lev Grossman

“One cannot be humble and aware of oneself at the same time.” —Madeleine L'Engle

“Have more humility. Remember you don't know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life–and maybe even please a few strangers.”–A.L. Kennedy

“If we learn not humility, we learn nothing.” —John Jewel

“There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.” — Henri Frederic Amiel

“Stay hungry, stay young, stay foolish, stay curious, and above all, stay humble because just when you think you got all the answers, is the moment when some bitter twist of fate in the universe will remind you that you very much don’t.”– Tom Hiddleston

“Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.” — La Rochefoucauld

“The only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer, but that which we carry with us in our daily conduct.”– Andy Murray

“Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.” — St. Vincent de Paul

“Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success.” — Rick Pitino

Affirm these humility quotes to help you grow as a person.

Now that you’ve read these quotes about humility, which ones stood out for you the most?

Post your favorites somewhere you’ll see them every day. Speak them out loud as affirmations and practice treating others with humility. 

Don’t mistake humility for self-deprecation, though. It’s one thing to admit your faults when the occasion calls for it. It’s another to constantly rant about the things you don’t like about yourself. 

The latter isn’t humility. It’s self-directed verbal abuse. And it benefits no one.

Humility takes time to cultivate, but it’s worth the time and effort. It will revolutionize your relationships if you make it a priority. And it will help you become the person you need to be. 

May it light your way forward and lead you to joy.

Think of the last conversation you had that ended in angry words or harsh criticism. I’m willing to bet pride was at the helm.  It’s usually there when we’re sidelining empathy to protect ourselves from being hurt or to punish someone else for making us feel small.  #humility #mindfulness #quotes #personalgrowth #selflove