Monica Johnson Quotes

True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.

If you would improve, submit to be considered wihout sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing; and if you shall seem to someone to be a person of importance, distrust yourself.

The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.

I have a pretty clear picture of the whole weight of my life, and there are things that I've done that are good, and I'm proud of them. There are things that I'm really not proud of, and that they, you have to look at me with a perspective, and I try really hard to do that, to keep from thinking I'm cool and ever so smart.

I certainly had an arrogant streak. And I certainly was defensive in certain cases. Maybe I'm still arrogant, but I try not to be.

Everybody needs to lower his ego.

I really don't look at my accomplishments. I really don't think about myself much.

My story was that I was egotistical, arrogant, and an absolute jerk to everyone who brags about everything - and I will - but I've been very fortunate to take everything and learn from it.

Human pride is not worthwhile; there is always something lying in wait to take the wind out of it.

What we cut off from our other faults is very often but so much added to our pride.

If thou seest anything in thyself which may make thee proud, look a little further and thou shalt find enough to humble thee; if thou be wise, view the peacock's feathers with his feet, and weigh thy best parts with thy imperfections.

Personal pride is probably a bad guide to merit.

Without humility, we keep all our defects; and they are only crusted over by pride, which conceals them from others, and often from ourselves.

It's always an honor to be ranked high, but whatever is said about you, you take it and then take a realistic look at yourself and who you are.

I've never really spent a lot of time thinking about my individual accomplishments actually.

You are not, nor ever will be, better than anyone else besides the person you are now.

Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.

The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. I can't worry about that.

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better.

Not only am I constantly seeking better performance but also to be a better person, to be respected.

When my writing career took off, it was pretty easy to keep my ego in check because old-school martial arts isn't about ego gratification. It's about maintaining a balanced view of the world and your place in it.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

I'm willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.