Amos Bronson Alcott Quotes

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

It is the duty of a great person so to demean himself, as that whatever endowments he may have, he may appear to value himself upon no qualities but such as any man may arrive at.

True dignity abides with him alone Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart.

I've stuck by being modest, honest and humble, because I think you'll get more appreciated that way and we all want to be appreciated in this world.

Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive.

How can there be pride in a contrite heart? Humility is the earliest fruit of religion.

Modesty and humility are the sobriety of the mind, as temperance and chastity are of the body.

Grace imitates modesty, as politeness imitates kindness.

True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us.

A man must not be without shame, for the shame of being without shame is shamelessness indeed.

The inclination to self-depreciation, to freely accepting being robbed, being duped, and being swindled, could be the modesty of a god among men.

Great minds tend toward banality. It is the noblest effort of individualism. But it implies a sort of modesty, which is so rare that it is scarcely found except in the greatest, or in beggars.

Humbleness is always grace; always dignity

Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.

Humility is not an exaggeratedly low opinion of yourself. Humility is self-forgetfulness.

True modesty and true pride are much the same thing: both consist in setting a just value on ourselves - neither more nor less.

[Humility is:] Greatness in plain clothes

For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister's life—uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which 'smell sweet, and blossom in the dust', the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all.

A shy face is better than a forward heart.

Thoughtfulness for others, generosity, modesty, and self-respect are the qualities which make a real gentleman or lady.

Our very business is to teach the great lesson of self-denial and humility to our people, and how unfit is it then that we should be proud ourselves!

In connection with death, or birth, or love, modesty is only a rather puerile self-consciousness.

A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility.

Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity.

The essence of true nobility is neglect of self. Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of a great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.