Modesty is to merit, as shades to figures in a picture, giving it strength and beauty.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
You cannot, I repeat, successfully acquire it and preserve your modesty at the same time.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
No truly great person ever thought themselves so.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.
—Oliver Herford (1863–1935) American Writer, Artist, Illustrator
Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed. They are sensitive plants, that will not bear too familiar approaches.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
Modest expression is a beautiful setting to the diamond of talent and genius.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
With people with only modest ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
That modest grace subdued my soul; that chastity of look, which seems to hang a veil of purest light o’er all her beauties.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
The first of all virtues is innocence; the next is modesty. If we banish modesty out of the world, she carries away with her half the virtue that is in it.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
We wound our modesty and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A good man is modest.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Modesty and the dew love the shade. Each shines in the open day only to be exhaled to heaven.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) Swiss Poet
They who are modest will not easily sin.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Modesty is the chastity of merit, the virginity of noble souls.
—Emile de Girardin (1806–81) French Journalist, Publisher
To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Modesty, when she goes, is gone forever.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
A modest person seldom fails to gain the good will of those he converses with, because nobody envies a man who does not appear to be pleased with himself.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
Ornaments were invented by modesty.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
A false modesty is the meanest species of pride.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small.
—Yiddish Proverb
I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty. But I am too busy thinking about myself.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
Self-conceit may lead to self destruction.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Modesty is the color of virtue.
—Diogenes Laertius (f.3rd Century CE) Biographer of the Greek Philosophers
If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence be known.
—W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) American Sociologist, Social Reformer
Hasty conclusions are the mark of a fool; a wise man doubteth; a fool rageth and is confident; the novice saith, “I am sure that it is so” the better learned answers, “Peradventure, it may be so; but, I pray thee, inquire.” It is a little learning, and but a little, which makes men conclude hastily. Experience and humility teach modesty and fear.
—Jeremy Taylor
Modesty is the appendage of sobriety, and is to chastity, to temperance, and to humility as the fringes are to a garment.
—Jeremy Taylor
Modesty once extinguished knows not how to return.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The man who is ostentatious of his modesty is twin to the statue that wears a fig-leaf.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In the modesty of fearful duty, I read as much as from the rattling tongue of saucy and audacious eloquence.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Act as though you cannot fail but keep a humble spirit.
—Unknown
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of; it heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades in paintings, it raises and rounds every figure and makes the colors more beautiful, though not so glaring as they would be without.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Modesty makes large amends for the pain it gives those who labor under it, by the prejudice it affords every worthy person in their favor.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
So rare is the union of beauty with modesty.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
No modest man ever did or ever will make a fortune.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) English Aristocrat, Poet, Novelist, Writer
Fidelity to conscience is inconsistent with retiring modesty. If it be so, let the modesty succumb. It can be only a false modesty which can be thus endangered.
—Harriet Martineau (1802–76) English Sociologist, Economist, Essayist, Philosopher
A modest man is usually admired, if people ever hear of him.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Modesty was designed by Providence as a guard to virtue, and that it might be always at hand it is wrought into the mechanism of the body. It is likewise proportioned to the occasions of life, and strongest in youth when passion is so too.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Modesty is the conscience of the body.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
I don’t like to write like God. It is only because you never do it, though, that the critics think you can’t do it.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Nothing can atone for the lack of modesty; without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
It’s always well to be the smartest thinker, but is won’t get you very far unless you’re the plainest talker.
—Unknown
A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent. A man is hated sometimes for pride, when it was an excess of humility gave the occasion.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener