Modesty Quotes

• Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Humility, Bait, Praise

  Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield (1855). “The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author”, p.341

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• I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes.

  Yves Saint Laurent

  Fashion, Sex, Blue Dress

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

  Joseph Addison

  Ornaments, Literature, Virtue

  Joseph Addison (1721). “THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOSEPH ADDISON, Esq; In FOUR VOLUMES.: VOLUME the THIRD”, p.218

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• The girl who chooses to be modest, chooses to be respected.

  Howard W. Hunter

  Girl, Veils, Modest

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• Conceit spoils the finest genius?and the great charm of all power is modesty.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Genius, Little Women, Finest

  1868 Little Women, pt.1, ch.7.

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• Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity.

  St. Jerome

  Catholic, Dresses, Purity And Love

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• We wound our modesty and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them.

  William Shakespeare

  Foul, Clearness, Publish

  William Shakespeare, Joseph Dennie, Isaac Reed, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (1805). “As you like it. All's well that ends well”, p.179

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• It's far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.

  Judith Martin

  Humble, Humility, Quality

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• Modesty: the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.

  Oliver Herford

  Art, Humility, Pretending

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• Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.

  Andre Maurois

  Men, Praise, Virtue

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• We must practice modesty, not only in our looks, but also in our whole deportment, and particularly in our dress, our walk, our conversation, and all similar actions.

  Alphonsus Liguori

  Practice, Catholic, Dresses

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• He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

  Confucius

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  Confucius, Mencius, Ssǔ shu, Wu king, Shu Ching (1861). “The Chinese Classics”, p.148

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• It was the Almighty who decreed that men and women must cover their nakedness by wearing proper and modest clothing. No amount of rationalizing can change God's laws. No amount of fashion designing can turn immodesty into virtue, and no amount of popularity can change sin into righteousness.

  Mark E. Petersen

  Fashion, Men, Law

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• By the virtue of modesty the devout person governs all his exterior acts. With good reason, then, does St. Paul recommend this virtue to all and declare how necessary it is and as if this were not enough he considers that this virtue should be obvious to all.

  Pio of Pietrelcina

  Doe, Virtue, Reason

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• Can it be That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary And pitch our evils there?

  William Shakespeare

  Evil, Desire, Sanctuary

  William Shakespeare, N. W. Bawcutt (1998). “Measure for Measure”, p.132, Oxford University Press, USA

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• It is easy for a somebody to be modest, but it is difficult to be modest when one is a nobody.

  Jules Renard

  Easy, Difficult, Modest

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• Thy modesty 's a candle to thy merit.

  Henry Fielding

  Merit, Candle

  Henry Fielding, Arthur Murphy (1784). “Plays”, p.467

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• Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Christian

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• Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person

  Horace

  Literature, Sullen, Silent

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• No truly great person ever thought themselves so.

  William Hazlitt

  Great Person, Persons

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• Modesty is the conscience of the body.

  Honore de Balzac

  Humility, Body, Conscience

  Honore de Balzac (2014). “Analytical Studies: Physiology of Marriage and Petty Troubles of Married Life”, p.366, The Floating Press

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• What can be found equal to modesty, uncorrupt faith, the sister of justice, and undisguised truth?

  Horace

  Justice, Found, Equal

  "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 520-21, Carmina, I. 24. 6, 1922.

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• The good we do to others is spoilt unless we efface ourselves so completely that those we help have no sense of inferiority.

  Honore de Balzac

  Inferiority, Helping, Spoilt

  Honore de Balzac (2011). “Letters of Two Brides”, p.202, The Floating Press

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• It is often found that modesty and humility not only do no good, but are positively hurtful, when they are shown to the arrogant who have taken up a prejudice against you, either from envy or from any other cause.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Taken, Humility, Envy

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• A feminist is someone who loathes being a woman and who dislikes the chief feminine characteristics.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Feminist, Being A Woman, Feminine

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