Modesty Quotes - Page 21

• These principles have been proclaimed by God, by the Church, by the Saints, by Christian reason and morals.

  Pope Pius XII

  Christian, Church, Principles

  "The Pope Speaks: The Teachings of Pope Pius XII".

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• Below the knee, halfway down the arm, and two finger widths below the collarbone.

  Pope Pius XII

  Two, Arms, Knees

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• But how can you know anything of the impression made on others? Who can assure you that others do not draw therefrom incentives to evil? You do not know the depths of human frailty. . . Oh, how truly was it said that if some Christian women could only suspect the temptations and falls they cause in others with modes of dress and familiarity in behavior, which they unthinkingly consider as of no importance, they would be shocked by the responsibility which is theirs.

  Pope Pius XII

  Christian, Fall, Responsibility

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• Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured; the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule; and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East.

  Edward Gibbon

  Fashion, Art, Luxury

  Edward Gibbon (1860). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.174

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• In late marriage alone lies the compulsion to retain an institution which, twist and turn as you like, is and remains a disgrace to humanity, an institution which is damned ill-suited to a being who with his usual modesty likes to regard himself as the 'image' of God.

  Adolf Hitler

  Religious, Lying, Humanity

  Adolf Hitler (1998). “Mein Kampf”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I can feel like a hag some days if I want! And I can tell everybody how insecure I am if I want! Or I can be pretty and pretend to think I'm a hag out of fake modesty-I can do that if I want, too. Because you, Livingston, are not the boss of me and what kind of girl I become.

  E. Lockhart

  Girl, Insecure, Thinking

  E. Lockhart (2014). “The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks”, p.55, Hot Key Books

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• I am not aware that I have deserved any notoriey, and I have no taste for its buzz.

  Alfred Nobel

  Science, Biographies, Buzz

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• The truth is a young maiden as modest as she is beautiful, and therefore she is always seen cloaked.

  Umberto Eco

  Beautiful, Truth Is, Maidens

  Umberto Eco (2006). “The Island of the Day Before”, p.132, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If some people are right, artists are put into this world not to practice their art, but to talk about it. And judging by the flattering invitations many a humble climber will receive to pontificate from the lowest rung but one of the ladder, humanity is in a dangerously receptive frame of mind, and artists a race devoid of either modesty or sense of humor.

  Ethel Smyth

  Art, Humble, Race

  Ethel Smyth (1922). “Streaks of life”

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• Courtesy, modesty, good manners, conformity to definite ethical standards are universal, but what constitutes courtesy, modesty, good manners, and definite ethical standards is not universal. It is instructive to know that standards differ in the most unexpected ways.

  Franz Boas

  Ethical Standards, Good Man, Way

  Foreword to "Coming of Age in Samoa" by Margaret Mead, 1928.

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• False modesty is better than none.

  Vilhjalmur Stefansson

  False Modesty

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• Nor do we accept, as genuine the person not characterized by this blushing bashfulness, this youthfulness of heart, this sensibility to the sentiment of suavity and self-respect. Modesty is bred of self-reverence. Fine manners are the mantle of fair minds. None are truly great without this ornament.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Heart, Self, Mind

  Amos Bronson Alcott (1868). “Tablets”, p.72

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• Modesty is bred of self-reverence. Fine manners are the mantle of fair minds.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Self, Mind, Manners

  Amos Bronson Alcott (1868). “Tablets”, p.72

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• At heart a truly modest man, he had nevertheless the modest man's pride in his modesty in the face of achievement.

  Pearl S. Buck

  Heart, Humility, Pride

  Pearl S. Buck (2013). “God's Men: A Novel”, p.237, Open Road Media

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• How beautiful is modesty! It winneth upon all beholders; but a word or a glance may destroy the pure love that should have been for thee.

  Martin Farquhar Tupper

  Beautiful, Should Have, May

  Martin Farquhar Tupper (1860). “Tupper's Complete Poetical Works: Containing "Proverbial Philosophy," "A Thousand Lines," "Hactenus," "Geraldine," and "Miscellaneous Poems"”, p.105

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• Modesty is a bright dish-cover, which makes us fancy there is something very nice underneath it.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Nice, Fancy, Dishes

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• In our small chess community in Marylebone it would be mock modesty on my part to deny that I have built up for myself a considerable name without ever actually having won a single game. Even the best players are sometimes beaten, and that is precisely what happens to me.

  Stephen Potter

  Player, Games, Names

  Stephen Potter (1962). “Three-upmanship: The theory & practice of gamesmanship: Some notes on lifemanship [and] One-upmanship”

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• And Modesty, who, when she goes,
  Is gone for ever.

  Walter Savage Landor

  Gone

  Walter Savage Landor (1831). “Gebir, Count Julian: And Other Poems”, p.357

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• Be not too great a niggard in the commendations of him that professes thy own quality: if he deserve thy praise, thou hast discovered thy judgment; if not, thy modesty: honor either returns or reflects to the giver.

  Francis Quarles

  Honor, Quality, Return

  Francis Quarles (1880). “The Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Francis Quarles”

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• As those that pull down private houses adjoining to the temples of the gods, prop up such parts as are contiguous to them; so, in undermining bashfulness, due regard is to be had to adjacent modesty, good-nature and humanity.

  Plutarch

  House, Humanity, Temples

  Plutarch (1871). “Plutarch's Morals”, p.62

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• Silence and modesty are very valuable qualities in conversation.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Silence, Quality, Conversation

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• Ha! for a divine and lordly manor, there is nothing like solid ground.

  Francois Rabelais

  Divine

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• Gratefully accepting the proffered honor, [to inscribe a new legal work to him] I give the leave, begging only that the inscription may be in modest terms, not representing me as a man of great learning, or a very extraordinary one in any respect.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Learning, Men, Giving

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• In San Francisco, vulgarity, "bad taste," ostentation are regarded as a kind of alien blight, an invasion or encroachment from outside. In Los Angeles, there is so much money and power connected with ostentation that is no longer ludicrous: it commands a kind of respect. For if the mighty behave like this, then quiet good taste means that you can't afford the conspicuous expenditures, and you become a little ashamed of your modesty and propriety.

  Pauline Kael

  Mean, San Francisco, Invasion

  pauline kael (1965). “i lost it at the movies”

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• If modesty and candor are necessary to an author in his judgment of his own works, no less are they in his reader.

  Sarah Fielding

  Judgment, Candor, Reader

  Sarah Fielding (1986). “The cry (1754)”, Scholars Facsimilies & Reprint

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