Qualities: HUMILITY

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

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
––The Bible, Obadiah, 4

The Deed is everything, the Glory naught.
Yes! To this thought I cling with firm persistence;
The last result of wisdom stamps it true.
He only earns his freedom and existence
Who daily conquers them anew.
––Goethe, Faust, 1806

Humility is not a weakness, but a strength. It stands in the way of self-destructive hubris and inflated ego. It helps us remain focused on our human qualities that are forever under development.
––John Roberts


We all have a right and responsibility to be humble, because, as Churchill said of an opponent, we all have much to be humble about. More positively, however, humility is a powerful virtue that brings external rewards and internal satisfactions far beyond the pleasures of pride and self-importance.

Some think humility is a weakness, a realistic acknowledgment of our faults that should diminish any overblown self-confidence. This is dead wrong. Humility is, instead, a positive quality that depends on self-respect. It is the knowledge that some of our qualities must be tempered and controlled in order to be effective. It is the positive opportunity to improve. Only those with self-respect can easily see and accept their faults and work to improve them in a positive way.

Humility is achieved by honest self-understanding and in balanced combination with legitimate self-confidence and pride. The immature have a problem in resolving this apparent conflict between humility and pride, when they are actually on the same side of the ledger. A mark of a mature person is great accomplishment resting on a foundation of genuine humility.

Humility does not require the absence of self-confidence or a strong or effusive personality. Humility is an internal recognition, not a pose. Modesty is more of an outward statement, appropriate to people of achievement, because it recognizes that we remain imperfect, and because self-importance is usually counter-productive. We do not wish to exhibit vanity. Modesty suggests being unpretentious, not expecting special recognition or exaggerated importance. Merging these concepts with a confident personality is an effective balance.