Steve Burns Quotes

I think failing is the best way to keep you grounded, curious, and humble. Success is dangerous because often you don't understand why you succeeded. You almost always know why you've failed. You have a lot of time to think about it.

People become concerned with being more humble than other people.

If you are aware that people are coming to you to receive your gift and not necessarily to you as the person, it keeps you very humble. Many people make the mistake of confusing the attraction of people to their lives as something that has to do with them as a person or a personality, and this is very dangerous and not true.

A good trader has to have three things: a chronic inability to accept things at face value, to feel continuously unsettled, and to have humility.

Few people are modest enough to be estimated at their true worth.

I'm human here, people. I'm not the Dalai Lama. But I'm trying.

I can assure you that there is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life. You learn that which is of inestimable importance that there are a great many people in the world who are just as clever as you are. You learn to put your trust, by and by, in an economy and frugality of the exercise of your powers, both moral and intellectual; and you very soon find out, if you have not found it out before, that patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.

... the approach of admitting our errors, besides being most true to a gospel of grace, is also most effective at expressing who we are. Propaganda turns people off; humbly admitting mistakes disarms.

I am convinced that any feeling of exaltation because we have people under us should be conquered, for I am sure that if we enjoy being over people, there will be something in our manner which will make them dislike being under us.

To confess your fallibility and then do nothing about it is not humble; it is boasting of your modesty.

The more something upsets you, the more it is meant for you. When it no longer upsets you, it is no longer needed because the lesson is complete.

This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion. It can humble us when we're arrogant and soften us when we are unkind.

It is superfluous to be humble on one's own behalf; so many people are willing to do it for one.

The balance between confidence and humility is best learned through extensive experience and mistakes.

Smart is knowing if you're dumb. Knowing when to shut up and to listen to people that are smarter than you.

Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You have to be true to yourself and remain humble. Whether you win or lose, you've got to treat everyone the same, and be who you are.

Believe the best about people. Pray for their short comings. You are not the standard. We all need grace.

Be confident. Be compassionate. Be intelligent. Be humble. Be generous. The universe returns to you what you put out.

He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers,--it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small.

. The key to all of that is keeping hold of humility and keeping hold of the people around you, and making sure you stay grounded with your family and friends.

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!

You can try reading books that will help you be a leader, like Marshall Rosenberg and Thich Nhat Hanh. Be very humble and say, "I don't know why. I don't feel qualified, but I accept this role that you gave me, and so help me."

If you can't take a good kicking, you shouldn't parade how much luckier you are than other people.

I take the greatest lesson from compassion - it takes away all the conceit out of my life.