Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Humility—the word can elicit various reactions from different people. For a long time, many considered it as an important attribute but not as valuable as fairness, sincerity, and authenticity.
But the virtue is becoming a highly attractive trait everywhere in the world, especially in social groups where the concept of hierarchy is so deeply entrenched.
Hypo-egoic Non-entitlement
In Duke University’s 2018 research on humility, participants were asked to rate themselves about their characteristics, accomplishments, and how others should be treated by others.
Lead researcher Mark Leary, a Duke University professor emeritus of psychology and author of The Curse of Self, discovered that humble people don’t underestimate their abilities, they just don’t think that they become a basis for special treatment or entitlement. Humble people see themselves like other people—with weaknesses, failures, and hang-ups.
Leary added that in people and interpersonal relationships where egoism is low, there are also low levels of conflict and negative emotions resulting from belief superiority and escapism.
Can We Be Confidently Humble?
If it’s possible to be both humble and confident at the same time, just as Leary’s study suggests, why is it hard for us to be more of both? Psychologists say we are unable to assess ourselves properly.
There is what we call the Dunning-Kruger effect in psychology, wherein people think they are better than they really are. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the impostor syndrome.
Individuals with this state of mind believe they don’t deserve their achievements and instead think they are frauds. They believe that their accomplishments were a matter of luck and timing.
Knowing Your Confidence Level
In their book Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman say that one’s gender, culture, and location in the world affect confidence levels. Men usually rate themselves a lot higher than their actual performance. Also, self-esteem is more important in Western culture than in the East, where self-improvement is emphasized.
The authors even created a quiz to help people assess their level of confidence. The quiz’ indicators for people with “low-confidence” include: a belief that everyone’s eyes are on what they have done, whether it be a success or failure; a low view of their worth (particularly in a corporate setting); having a list of all the things they wish they tried or done; and a hesitation to initiate action during key moments.
Overconfidence Bias
Overconfidence bias can show itself through over-ranking or having a higher estimate of oneself (Dunning-Kruger effect).
People with this bias may possess an illusion of control or the belief of having more control than what one actually has; a timing optimism or overestimating the amount of time needed to complete a job; and a desirability effect or the belief that a certain outcome will be achieved because that is the desired result.
Overconfident personalities may also exhibit behaviors such as expressing no curiosity for the person with whom they are interacting with, not focusing on what one doesn’t know yet or is seeking to learn, inserting one’s accomplishments into conversations, joining interactions due to potential self-interest, and treating service personnel differently than professional colleagues.
Striking a Balance
Becoming aware of the way you perceive yourself is the first step to moving forward in humility and confidence. How can you achieve a good balance?
1. Build your emotional intelligence (EI).
Humble people can keep their emotions in check.
To help train your EI, EQ Applied author Justin suggests that you reflect on your emotions as you give out typical responses to everyday situations like traffic or arguments.
Ask people close to you about how your response comes across to them; be observant of your emotional response; think first before you act; try to learn why someone reacts to you in a particular way; and ask yourself “what can I learn?” after being criticized.
2. Have an attitude of gratitude.
Being grateful means recognizing how other people contribute to your life and being appreciative of them.
3. End the blame game.
Pointing fingers not only exposes the fragility of your ego but also de-motivates the people around you. Own up to your role in a bad situation and accept the lesson you learned from it.
4. Adopt a growth mentality.
Whereas a fixed mindset sees intelligence and talents as that—fixed, a growth mindset sees these qualities as being able to increase and improve through persistence, effort, and coaching.
You can have this mentality by looking at challenges as opportunities, taking risks, and responding appropriately whether you succeed or not.
Humble Quotes
The following quotes will inspire you to appreciate the wisdom and strength found in being humble:
1. We have to humble ourselves and the way you do that is by serving other people. — Tim Tebow
2. Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. — Norman Vincent Peale
3. There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. — Ernest Hemingway
4. I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people. — Nelson Mandela
5. Success is not a good teacher; failure makes you humble. — Shah Rukh Khan
6. Every person that you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them. — H. Jackson Brown Jr.
7. No matter how high up you get, never forget where you came from. — Beeru Singh
8. Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. — John Wooden
9. Selflessness is humility. Humility and freedom go hand in hand. Only a humble person can be free. — Jeff Wilson
10. I’ll never forget where I’m from. It’s essential to remain humble and evolving. — Freida Pinto
11. Success comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion in life. To be successful, it is also very important to be humble and never let fame or money travel to your head. — A. R. Rahman
12. A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others. — Robert E. Lee
13. Humble people ask for help. — Joyce Meyer
14. Don’t worry about the pressure or the responsibility. Just live in it, have fun, and when everything seems to be going right, just stay humble and remember your family. — Roman Reigns
15. Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing. — Camille Pissarro
16. Being humble matters. — Kevin Hart
17. He is a very humble man, that thinks not himself better than some others. — Joseph Hall
18. Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class and be humble. — John Madden
19. Every day I feel humble when I experience the vibrational essence of my world. — Debbie A. Anderson
20. Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life. — George Arliss
21. Humility is royalty without a crown. — Spencer W. Kimball
22. One cannot be humble and aware of oneself at the same time. — Madeleine L’Engle
23. We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility. — Rabindranath Tagore
24. The best route is to stay humble and stay true to yourself. — Rich the Kid
25. I am sufficiently proud of my knowing something to be modest about my not knowing all. — Vladimir Nabokov
26. To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferior’s nobleness. — Benjamin Franklin
27. My dad said, ‘Stay humble, and you gotta work harder than everybody else.’ My mom said, ‘Always be yourself.’ She always told me only God can judge me. — Nate Robinson
28. The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is. — Phillips Brooks
29. People always tell you, ‘Be humble. Be humble.’ When was the last time someone told you to be amazing? Be great! Be great! Be awesome! Be awesome! — Kanye West
30. I’m a simple man. Grew up in a small town. Came from humble beginnings. No silver spoons. — Robin S. Sharma
31. One may be humble out of pride. — Michel de Montaigne
32. I’m always asked, ‘What’s the secret to success?’ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room. — Dwayne Johnson
33. A wise man is humble, knowing he actually doesn’t know much. — Eraldo Banovac
34. A great man is always willing to be little. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
35. If you are really humble you will put yourself first when you need to take care of you. — Bryant McGill
36. Don’t let proud get to your head, always humble yourself. — Henry Johnson Jr
37. It’s important to work hard, stay humble, and not let the criticism or the compliments go to your head. — Jessica Sanchez
38. I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth. — Mahatma Gandhi
39. The proud man counts his newspaper clippings, the humble man his blessings. — Fulton J. Sheen
40. Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others. — Gordon B. Hinckley
41. Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. — Douglas MacArthur
42. Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success. — Rick Pitino
43. The kind of people that all teams need are people who are humble, hungry, and smart: humble being little ego, focusing more on their teammates than on themselves. Hungry, meaning they have a strong work ethic, are determined to get things done, and contribute any way they can. Smart, meaning not intellectually smart but inner personally smart. — Patrick Lencioni
44. If you aren’t humble, whatever empathy you claim is false and probably results from some arrogance or the desire to control. But true empathy is rooted in humility and the understanding that there are many people with as much to contribute in life as you. — Anand Mahindra
45. You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there. You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration. In the Internet industry, it’s not about grand innovation, it’s about a lot of little innovations: every day, every week, every month, making something a little bit better. — Jason Calacanis
46. I always say be humble but be firm. Humility and openness are the key to success without compromising your beliefs. — George Hickenlooper
47. Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. — C.S. Lewis
48. Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more. — William Cowper
49. Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected. — William Safire
50. Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity. — Vanna Bonta
51. It keeps me humble just to know exactly where I came from and all the hard work, I had to put in to be here. It feels good to reminisce about the past. — Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
52. I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps. — Mahatma Gandhi
53. You have to accept your fate; do it without bitterness and stay humble. — Anthony Scaramucci
54. Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom. — William Penn
55. To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent good will result. — Ramana Maharshi
56. In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. — Galileo Galilei
57. Humility means accepting reality with no attempt to outsmart it. — David Richo
58. Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. — Mother Teresa
59. Almost any difficulty will move in the face of honesty. When I am honest, I never feel stupid. And when I am honest, I am automatically humble. — Hugh Prather
60. Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors. — Ludwig van Beethoven
61. If you’re smart, you’ll always be humble. You can learn all you want, but there’ll always be somebody who’s never read a book who’ll know twice what you know. — David Duchovny
62. If you feel deserve to judge the arrogant, it’s a sign that you’re so far of humbleness. — Toba Beta
63. We must quit thinking we know everything and quit placing “knowledge” over kindness and compassion. — Bryant McGill
64. Stay humble, be fearless, and work, work, work, work, work, work. — Daya
65. True humility is having the understanding that, even as a small seed, we are still an important part of the greater plan. However, we are not the master planner. — Tanya Copprue
66. God’s promises are all on condition of humble obedience. — Ellen G. White
67. If you would have people speak well of you, then do not speak well of yourself. — Blaise Pascal
68. I hope that five years and ten years from now, I’ll be a better man, a more mature man, a wiser man, a more humble man and a more spirited man to serve the good of my people and the good of humanity. — Louis Farrakhan
69. No truly great person ever thought themselves so. — William Hazlitt
70. Nothing can make you more humble than pain. — Larry Flynt
71. Always remember when you are on top of the world, that the earth rotates every 24 hrs. — Steve G. Makris
72. We’re gracious and we’re humble, and we play the game a certain way, whether we win or lose. — Megan Rapinoe
73. It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help. — Judith Martin
74. The proud do not change to improve but defend their position by rationalizing. Repentance means change, and it takes a humble person to change. — Ezra Taft Benson
75. Be smart, but never show it. — Louis B Mayer
76. A man who is at the top is a man who has the habit of getting to the bottom. — Joseph E. Rogers
77. I am very humble, and I am very gracious and very grateful for everything that happens to me and about me and around me. — Lil Wayne
78. There’s a lot to be said for the fellow who doesn’t say it himself. — Maurice Switzer
79. God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereignty he had gained over the human heart. — Saint Bernard
80. The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it. — Francis Bacon
81. I think everybody has ups and downs in their lives. We learn from the biggest disappointments, right? You learn how to be humble to yourself and to be humble to others. — Carolina Kostner
82. Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them. — John J. Mccloy
83. I think our family motto is to always work hard, be humble, kind, and thoughtful about others around us. — Anwar Hadid
84. Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self. — Charles Spurgeon
85. You desire that which exceeds my humble powers, but I trust in the compassion and mercy of the All-powerful God. — Saint Stephen
86. True humility involves opposites. The truly humble work in silence. Because they do not speak of their accomplishments, credit for them can never be taken away. — Lao-Tzu
87. It’s how I’ve lived my life. You show up, work hard, and be humble. — Kurt Johnstad
88. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind. — Albert Einstein
89. He who truly knows has no occasion to shout. — Leonardo da Vinci
90. A genuinely humble person humbles himself even before those who should be humbled by his presence. — Bishop Michael Eneja
91. We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather, we must be simple, humble and pure. — Francis of Assisi
92. Swallow your pride occasionally, it’s non-fattening!
93. You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft. — Talib Kweli
94. Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more. — Mark Twain
95. The praise that comes from love does not make us vain, but more humble. — James M. Barrie
96. Humble souls are fearful of their own strength. — William Gurnall
97. We have to stop and be humble enough to understand that there is something called mystery. — Paulo Coelho
98. Being humble takes more courage than hauling arrogance. — Desmond Fouche
99. The higher we get educated and higher we are placed, the softer should be our approach and humbler should be our attitude. — Senora Roy
100. I just want to be humble at all times. — Mike Tyson
101. Only those who feel little in the eyes of God, can hope to be mighty in the eyes of men. — Ernest Moritz Arndt
102. A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing. — Albert Einstein
103. I’m no leader; I’m a little humble follower. — Muhammad Ali
104. Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise. — Frank Ocean
105. The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it. — Criss Jami
106. Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. — Yehuda Berg
107. The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk. — Marcus Tullius Cicero
