Talk:Humility

humility = truth   I learned it from my friends.

Inadequately identified quotes
All quotes in Wikiquote articles should be sourced; i.e., a specific published work with a specific quotee (even if it's attributed in the publication to "Anonymous" or "Unknown") must be cited. Very few theme articles have any sources for any of their quotes. This makes it virtually impossible to maintain any semblance of accuracy or quality in these articles.

In order to encourage better sourcing, I have been bold and have just removed all quotes that were attributed to unidentified people (i.e., their wiki links went to non-existent articles). While it may be possible to track down these people and/or works, find the quotes in a publication, and then cite them, no one person (or even 20 people) can be expected to do this for over 10,000 articles. Wikiquote's articles are clearer suffering from this deficiency of unsourced material with inadequate attributions. The only solution I see is to get ruthless about eliminating any quotes that have not even a minimum level of identification — some easily accessed data about who the quotee is and why they should be considered notable enough for inclusion.

At the very least, editors adding quotes should provide a link to an existing Wikiquote or Wikipedia article, or explicitly explain who the person is in the standard source line (see Templates/Themes for formatting). This doesn't eliminate the need to cite a specific published source for the quote itself, but it gives other editors a fighting chance to determine notability and find such a source.

If anyone has questions about this practice, please contact me on my talk page. Thank you. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 12:14, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced

 * The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.
 * St. Augustine


 * There are a billion people in China. It's not easy to be an individual in a crowd of more than a billion people.  Think of it.  More than a BILLION people.  That means even if you're a one-in-a-million type of guy, there are still a thousand guys exactly like you.
 * A. Whitney Brown


 * It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.
 * Rachel Carson


 * The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn't permit anyone to lower his head to him.  The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him.
 * Carlos Castaneda


 * It is always the secure who are humble.
 * G. K. Chesterton


 * We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.
 * Winston Churchill


 * I am third. [Means God must come first in our lives, and our neighbour second.]
 * Catherine Doherty


 * Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson


 * Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
 * Malcolm S. Forbes


 * In reality there is perhaps not one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself...For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
 * Benjamin Franklin


 * After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.
 * Benjamin Franklin


 * It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
 * Mohandas Gandhi


 * The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can't live without him is even more deluded.
 * Hasidic proverb


 * Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly overvalued by others.
 * William Hazlitt


 * Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.
 * Oliver Herford


 * Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
 * Eric Hoffer


 * Most of us retain enough of the theological attitude to think that we are little gods.
 * Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
 * I found a source for this. See p430 of The Mind and Faith of Justice Holmes for the May 5, 1926 letter to "Wu". However, it is different (more wordy) than the above quote. ImperfectlyInformed (talk) 20:07, 18 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
 * Helen Keller


 * What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
 * Abraham Lincoln


 * God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, he can make something out of us.
 * Martin Luther


 * It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
 * Niccolo Machiavelli


 * The grace which makes every other grace amiable.
 * Alfred Mercier


 * Don't talk about yourself; it will be done when you leave.
 * Wilson Mizner


 * Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought.
 * Dwight Morrow


 * Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
 * Friedrich Nietzsche


 * You shouldn't gloat about anything you've done; you ought to keep going and find something better to do.
 * David Packard


 * There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it, and the rest of us.
 * Laurence J. Peter


 * Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
 * Alexander Pope


 * If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble; for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, so it is beloved of none but by itself; the voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail nor reason.
 * Francis Quarles


 * We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
 * François Duc de La Rochefoucauld


 * Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
 * William Safire


 * With people of only moderate ability modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
 * Arthur Schopenhauer


 * Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.
 * Adlai Stevenson


 * He who sacrifices a whole offering shall be rewarded for a whole offering; he who offers a burnt-offering shall have the reward of a burnt-offering; but he who offers humility to God and man shall be rewarded with a reward as if he had offered all the sacrifices in the world.
 * The Talmud


 * Humility is good for all, but is an added richness to the rich.
 * Valluvar in Tiruvalluvar: 125]]


 * If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings.
 * Welsh proverb

Unsourced Anonymous

 * I would rather have people wonder why there is no statue of me, than wonder why there is.
 * Anonymous


 * Swallow your pride occasionally, it's non-fattening!
 * Anonymous


 * Modesty: The art of encouraging people to find out for themselves how wonderful you are.
 * Anonymous


 * It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.
 * Anonymous