Virtue index · Classical virtue
Humility
Knowing oneself truly before God: not thinking of oneself more highly than one ought, and receiving every good as a gift.
Definitions from the tradition
Augustine, Letter 118.22: Asked what is first in religion, Augustine answers: humility; and second, humility; and third, humility.
Benedict, Rule of St. Benedict, ch. 7: Benedict describes humility as a ladder of twelve steps, beginning with the fear of God and ending in a love that casts out fear.
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 161: Humility restrains the mind from tending to high things immoderately, and rests on knowledge of one’s own deficiency; it is compatible with magnanimity, since each regards a different thing.
Scripture, James 4:6 (KJV): “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”
Scripture, Philippians 2:3 (KJV): “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves”
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version as given in the library’s text. Other definitions are summarized, not quoted.
Opposing vices
- Pride: Inordinate love of one’s own excellence, the root of the other sins.
- False humility: Belittling oneself for show or to escape duty.
Works that show humility (251)
The Epic of GilgameshAnonymous (Babylonian; standard version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni)Failing Utnapishtim's test of sleep and losing the plant of youth to a snake, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and points not to himself but to the walls he built.c. 2100-1200 BCThe HistoriesHerodotusCroesus learns from Solon to call no man happy before his end, and Xerxes’ pride is humbled at Salamis. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 430 BCEThe Theban PlaysSophoclesOedipus’ confident search for the truth ends in the discovery of his own guilt, a lesson against human pride. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 429–401 BCEMenoPlatoSocrates admits he has never met anyone who knew what virtue is and is unsure of parts of his own recollection story.c. 385 BCEPosterior Analytics and PhysicsAristotlePosterior Analytics II.19 grounds all knowledge in patient perception and experience rather than in innate or self-certifying insight.4th century BCEPoeticsAristotleHomer is praised in Chapter XXIV for speaking as little as possible in his own person and letting his characters act.c. 335 BCEElements, Book IEuclidEuclid asks the reader to grant the drawing of a line in Postulate i, admitting, as Casey notes, that no drawn line is truly geometrical.c. 300 BCEThe RamayanaValmikiBharat refuses the throne his mother won for him and governs from Nandigram in hermit dress with Rama's sandals on the throne. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 5th century BC-3rd century AD (traditional)The Method (Geometrical Solutions Derived from Mechanics)ArchimedesAfter finding the area of the parabolic segment by balancing, Archimedes states that the result has been conjectured, not proved.c. 250 BCEThe History of Rome, Books I-VLivy (Titus Livius)Cincinnatus in Book III accepts the dictatorship from his small farm and returns to it after sixteen days.c. 27-9 BCDiscourses (selection) and EncheiridionEpictetusEpictetus says philosophy begins with awareness of one's own weakness and tells the improving student to accept being thought foolish.c. 108 CEMeditationsMarcus AureliusThe emperor reminds himself that fame is brief and that he is a small part of the whole.c. 170–180 CEOn the Making of ManGregory of NyssaGregory of Nyssa considers man’s place as image of God within creation.c. 379ConfessionsAugustine of HippoAugustine confesses his sins and God’s mercy, giving all praise to God. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 397–400 CELife of St. MartinSulpitius Severus; Alexander RobertsAs bishop Martin lives simply in a monastery and accepts toil for his people.c. 397; Roberts translation 1894St. Patrick's WritingsPatrick of Ireland; Muirchu; TirechanPatrick opens his Confession calling himself a sinner and the least of the faithful.5th century; later legends 7th centuryThe Rule of St BenedictBenedict of NursiaChapter 7 sets out the twelve steps of humility. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 530 CECædmon's HymnCædmonCædmon leaves the feast rather than pretend to a skill he lacks, and his gift is credited to God rather than to himself.c. 658-680The Dream of the RoodAnonymousThe tree, once a criminal's gallows, accepts its humiliation in obedience before it is exalted, and the dreamer confesses himself stained with sins.c. 700-750 (Ruthwell Cross); Vercelli Book c. 975Ecclesiastical History of the English PeopleBedeAidan travels on foot rather than horseback so that he can stop and speak with rich and poor alike.731A Treatise on the Smallpox and MeaslesAbu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes)Al-Razi defends Galen's reputation against careless critics before stating what Galen left undone.c. 910ChronographiaMichael PsellosIsaac I Komnenos, gravely ill, lays down the crown and enters a monastery.c. 1078Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali)Abu Hamid al-GhazaliExamining his celebrated lectures, Ghazali admits they were driven by a desire for honor and reputation rather than devotion to God.c. 1100The Prose EddaSnorri SturlusonThor, mightiest of the gods, is beaten in every contest at Utgarda-Loki's hall and must hear that he wrestled Old Age itself.c. 1220Early Franciscan SourcesFrancis of Assisi; Thomas of Celano; Bonaventure; Brother Ugolino; othersFrancis embraces poverty and calls creation his brothers and sisters.c. 1209-1390The Divine ComedyDante AlighieriOn the terrace of the proud in Purgatory souls bend under stones and learn humility. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 1308-1321Sir Gawain and the Green KnightAnonymousGawain confesses his fault over the green girdle and wears it as a sign of humility. Opposing vice: Pride.late 14th centuryThe Canterbury TalesGeoffrey ChaucerThe Knight, though worthy, is wise and meek as a maid in bearing.c. 1387-1400Le Morte d'ArthurThomas MaloryGareth serves a year in Arthur's kitchen as Beaumains and bears the damsel Linet's insults without complaint before revealing his birth.1485 (Caxton; completed c. 1469-70)On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)Desiderius ErasmusIn the preface Erasmus declines to make firm assertions where he judges Scripture obscure and submits his reading to the Church's judgment.1524On the Fabric of the Human Body (Preface)Andreas VesaliusEven while correcting Galen, he honours him as the foremost of ancient anatomists and frames his work as a return to the practice of the ancients.1543On the Revolutions of the Heavenly SpheresNicolaus CopernicusCopernicus submits his work to the judgment of the Pope and of learned mathematicians rather than claiming final authority.1543Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume 1)Giorgio VasariAsked for a sample for the pope, Giotto sends only a freehand circle and lets the work speak for itself.1550; 2nd ed. 1568The Popol Vuh (Lewis Spence's account)Anonymous (K'iche' Maya); Lewis SpenceVukub-Cakix boasts that his jewelled eyes and teeth make the sun and moon unnecessary, and the twins bring him down. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 1554-1558; Spence 1908Institutes of the Christian ReligionJohn CalvinIn Book IV, chapter 17 he confesses that he rather feels than understands how Christ feeds believers in the Supper.1536; definitive Latin edition 1559The Life of St. Teresa of JesusTeresa of AvilaTeresa submits each vision to her confessors and writes that she may be deceived, recounting her faults more fully than her graces.1565The Faerie Queene, Book IEdmund SpenserRedcrosse is humbled in the House of Holiness by Penance and Repentance before he is fit to face the dragon.1590The Taming of the ShrewWilliam ShakespearePetruchio insists they go to Baptista's in plain clothes in Act 4, Scene 3, holding that honour shows through the meanest habit.c. 1590-92 (First Folio 1623)Journey to the West (A Mission to Heaven)Wu Cheng'enThe Monkey who called himself Equal of Heaven discovers he has never left Buddha's palm and must later serve a weak monk as his disciple. Opposing vice: Pride.c. 1592Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)Richard HookerHooker urges his opponents, and by implication himself, to 'deem it not impossible' to err and to weigh what is spoken rather than who speaks.1594The Comedy of ErrorsWilliam ShakespeareThe two Dromios refuse to claim precedence and leave the stage hand in hand.c. 1594 (First Folio 1623)Much Ado About NothingWilliam ShakespeareBeatrice and Benedick each lay down their pride after hearing friends describe their scorn, and admit they were wrong about marriage.c. 1598-99 (published 1600)As You Like ItWilliam ShakespeareOrlando, met with courtesy after drawing his sword at the Duke's feast, puts it away and asks pardon.c. 1599 (First Folio 1623)Henry VWilliam ShakespeareAfter Agincourt Henry forbids boasting and gives the victory to God with Non nobis.1599New Astronomy and The Harmony of the WorldJohannes KeplerHe abandoned his own carefully built circular model of Mars rather than doubt Tycho's observations by eight minutes of arc.1609-1619SonnetsWilliam ShakespeareIn Sonnets 78 to 86 the speaker concedes the rival poet's greater eloquence and offers only plain, true praise.1609Galileo: The Starry Messenger, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, and Two New Sciences (First Day)Galileo GalileiIn the First Day Salviati offers his theory of fire and vacua as a passing thought, still immature, and invites his friends to judge it.1610-1638The TempestWilliam ShakespeareProspero breaks his staff, drowns his book and ends by asking the audience to pardon him.c. 1610-11 (First Folio 1623)On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (De Motu Cordis)William HarveyThe dedication refuses to take from the ancients any honor due to them and calls error a common human lot rather than a crime.1628A Model of Christian CharityJohn WinthropWinthrop holds that no man is made richer or more honorable for his own sake and names Micah's walk humbly with our God as the way to avoid shipwreck. Opposing vice: Pride.1630The CollarGeorge HerbertAfter thirty-two lines of protest the speaker answers the Lord's call with the two words My Lord.1633On His Blindness (Sonnet XIX)John MiltonThe speaker accepts Patience's correction that God needs neither his work nor his gifts, giving up the idea that his worth lies in his output.written c. 1652-1655; published 1673The Sceptical ChymistRobert BoyleCarneades admits at the end that his paradox denying all elements is less probable than the rest of his argument.1661The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert SandersonIzaak WaltonHerbert lays aside his court ambitions and lies prostrate before the altar at his induction to the small parish of Bemerton.1665-1678Grace Abounding to the Chief of SinnersJohn BunyanHe calls himself a poor painted hypocrite for his early pride in godliness and learns from poor women at a Bedford door.1666Paradise LostJohn MiltonEve's tearful plea to Adam in Book X ends their quarrel and leads both to repentance and prayer.1667; revised 1674PenseesBlaise PascalPascal sets man between greatness and wretchedness, a thinking reed. Opposing vice: Pride.1670PatriarchaRobert FilmerChapter I teaches that subjects must leave the judgment of wicked princes to God rather than execute it without commission.c. 1630s (published 1680)A Letter Concerning TolerationJohn LockeLocke observes that every one is orthodox to himself, a reason for restraint in imposing one's own judgment on others.1689Treatise on LightChristiaan HuygensHuygens publishes the behaviour of light through two crystals while admitting he has found no cause for it, so that others may investigate.1690The Practice of the Presence of GodBrother LawrenceHe calls himself a great awkward fellow who broke everything and entered religion expecting to be punished for his faults.1692OpticksIsaac NewtonNewton calls the third book 'imperfect' and leaves his hints 'to be examin'd and improv'd by the farther Experiments' of others.1704A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human KnowledgeGeorge BerkeleyThe Preface asks readers to suspend judgment until they have read the whole, and the Introduction blames philosophers' own habits, not the limits of nature, for their confusion.1710The Spirit of the LawsMontesquieuBook XI begins from the admission that every holder of power is apt to abuse it, so no ruler should be trusted with all of it.1748Elegy Written in a Country ChurchyardThomas GrayThe poem tells the Proud that heraldry, power and wealth meet the same inevitable hour as the poor.1751The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, GentlemanLaurence SterneToby, the least learned man at Shandy Hall, answers Walter's lectures with modesty and a whistled Lillabullero rather than pride.1759-1767The Journal of John WoolmanJohn WoolmanAt Wehaloosing he writes that in his own eyes he appeared inferior to many among the Delaware people he had come to visit.1774The Newburgh AddressGeorge WashingtonAs witnesses reported, he put on his spectacles before his officers and spoke plainly of having grown gray in their common service.1783The Virginia Statute for Religious FreedomThomas JeffersonIt reminds legislators and rulers that they are fallible and uninspired men with no rightful dominion over the faith of others.1777 (enacted 1786)A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of AmericaJohn AdamsThe Defence assumes that no class of men, however able or well-born, can be trusted with unchecked authority.1787-1788Critique of Practical ReasonImmanuel KantIn Chapter III the moral law strikes down self-conceit, and Kant says his spirit bows before an upright person of humble station.1788Elements of ChemistryAntoine LavoisierHe admits that the name azote seems extraordinary and that the nature of the noxious part of the air is still little known.1789The Natural History of SelborneGilbert WhiteWhite confines himself to one parish and admits plainly what he has not yet been able to learn.1789Reflections on the Revolution in FranceEdmund BurkeBurke argues that each man's private stock of reason is small and should draw on the general bank and capital of nations and of ages.1790The TygerWilliam BlakeThe speaker stands before the tiger's fearful symmetry and confesses by his questions that its making is beyond him.1794First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)Thomas JeffersonJefferson opens by declaring the task above his talents and later asks indulgence for errors he expects to make through defect of judgment.1801Marbury v. MadisonSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Court refuses to exercise a power Congress had offered it because the Constitution did not grant that power.1803Faust, Part OneJohann Wolfgang von GoetheIn the dungeon Gretchen accepts judgment for her crime instead of escaping it by Mephistopheles' help.1808Pride and PrejudiceJane AustenDarcy and Elizabeth must both overcome pride and prejudice to see each other truly. Opposing vice: Pride.1813EmmaJane AustenEmma weeps all the way home from Box Hill and calls on Miss Bates the next morning to make amends.1815FrankensteinMary ShelleyVictor’s ambition to create life ends in ruin, and he warns Walton against the same pride. Opposing vice: Pride.1818 (revised 1831)OzymandiasPercy Bysshe ShelleyThe poem exposes the king's boast that he is king of kings by leaving only a shattered face and empty sand, showing pride undone by time. Opposing vice: Pride.1818Gibbons v. OgdenSupreme Court of the United StatesThe opinion begins by honouring the New York judges and legislators who had upheld the monopoly, treating their views as entitled to great respect.1824Principles of GeologyCharles LyellHe closes Book I by calling human beings mere sojourners on the planet, enduring for a moment of time, even as he praises the mind's reach.1830-1833Barron v. BaltimoreSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Court says plainly that it cannot apply the amendments where their framers did not, limiting its own power in a case it could have decided otherwise.1833Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1Michael FaradayIn paragraph 869 he declines to claim knowledge of atoms that his experiments could not support.1839My Last DuchessRobert BrowningThe Duke's boast that he chooses never to stoop shows by its absence what humility would have required: a simple word to his wife.1842A System of Logic, Book III: Of InductionJohn Stuart MillHe closes Chapter III by admitting that whoever can explain why one instance sometimes suffices has solved a problem the wisest of the ancients did not.1843Tales (Selection)Edgar Allan PoePrince Prospero's proud attempt to shut out the plague with walls and revelry ends at midnight in the black chamber, showing by contrast the humility his people needed from him.1839–1846Fairy Tales (Selection)Hans Christian AndersenWhen the swan is praised as the most beautiful of birds, he hides his head under his wing, happy and not at all proud.1835–1872Jane EyreCharlotte BrontëRochester at Ferndean acknowledges God's judgment on his pride and thanks God for Jane's return.1847The Scarlet LetterNathaniel HawthorneHester bears her public shame while Dimmesdale’s hidden sin consumes him until confession.1850CranfordElizabeth GaskellMiss Matty sets up a little tea business in her parlour without complaint and refuses to take the grocer's trade.1851–53Bleak HouseCharles DickensEsther accepts her scarred face without bitterness and continues to put Ada and others first.1852–53Tanglewood TalesNathaniel HawthorneKing Picus, restored from a woodpecker, learns to think of himself as the upper servant of his people.1853Hard TimesCharles DickensGradgrind, broken by Louisa's confession, admits his system has failed and bends his remaining years to faith, hope and charity rather than Facts.1854The Age of FableThomas BulfinchArachne and Niobe are punished for boasting against Minerva and Latona, warnings Bulfinch tells without softening.1855The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My ChildrenCharles KingsleyKingsley closes the book by showing Theseus ruined by pride and praying that God will keep pride from his readers after they do noble deeds.1856The Old Regime and the RevolutionAlexis de TocquevilleThe preface admits that the revolutionaries, however bold, could not escape the habits their history had formed in them.1856Germ Theory Papers (Pasteur and Lister)Louis Pasteur and Joseph ListerPasteur closes his 1880 paper by admitting that medicine and veterinary practice are foreign to him and asking for judgment and criticism.1857-1880Novum Organon RenovatumWilliam WhewellThe Preface admits that no art of discovery is possible, since every advance needs invention and genius that no method can supply.1858Great ExpectationsCharles DickensPip comes to recognize his ingratitude, holds the convict's hand as he dies and asks Joe and Biddy to forgive him.1860-61The Chemical History of a CandleMichael FaradayIn Lecture I he treats the guttering of a badly made candle as a fault that teaches, modelling a willingness to learn from error.1861Because I could not stop for DeathEmily DickinsonThe speaker puts away both her labor and her leisure without protest when Death kindly stops for her.written c. 1862-1863; published 1890Les MisérablesVictor HugoValjean withdraws from Cosette's married life rather than let his past shadow her happiness.1862Legends of CharlemagneThomas BulfinchRinaldo, once the proudest of the paladins, hides his name and works for a penny a day carrying stone for the church at Cologne.1863The Gettysburg AddressAbraham LincolnHe insists that the speakers' poor power can neither add nor detract and predicts the world will little note what they say. Opposing vice: Pride.1863Notes from UndergroundFyodor DostoevskyThe narrator's ruinous pride at Zverkov's dinner, where he cannot bear to be ignored or to leave, shows by contrast what humility would have spared him.1864An Introduction to the Study of Experimental MedicineClaude BernardBernard concludes from the quarrels of physicians that both rival theories are probably insufficient and that science should make its students modest.1865Second Inaugural AddressAbraham LincolnLincoln refuses to claim God as the Union's partisan, admitting that neither side's prayers were answered fully and that the Almighty has His own purposes. Opposing vice: Pride.1865Crime and PunishmentFyodor DostoevskyRaskolnikov’s theory of the extraordinary man gives way to repentance through Sonya. Opposing vice: Pride.1866Experiments in Plant Hybridisation (in Bateson's Mendel's Principles of Heredity)Gregor Mendel; William BatesonMendel leaves to 'the friendly decision of the reader' whether his plan of experiment was the best suited to its end.1866War and PeaceLeo TolstoyPlatón Karatáev accepts captivity and misfortune without complaint, trusting that things happen as God judges.1865-1869The IdiotFyodor DostoevskyAt Nastasya Filippovna's party Myshkin proposes to her while saying that she does him an honor, not he her.1868–69Veazie Bank v. FennoSupreme Court of the United StatesChase declines to substitute the Court's judgment of a tax's wisdom for that of elected legislators answerable to the people.1869Hepburn v. GriswoldSupreme Court of the United StatesChase acknowledges that judgments formed amid the tumult of war, his own among them, deserved reconsideration in calmer times.1870MiddlemarchGeorge EliotHarriet Bulstrode, learning her husband's disgrace, puts on a plain dress and goes to sit beside him.1871–72Far from the Madding CrowdThomas HardyBathsheba, after her suffering, goes herself to Gabriel's cottage to ask why he is leaving and admits her need of him.1874The Wise Woman (A Double Story)George MacDonaldRosamond admits that the pony hurt her no more than she deserved, because she had taken liberties with him.1875I Will Fight No More ForeverChief JosephHe confesses plainly that he is tired and his heart sick and sad, without boast or reproach.1877Illustrations of the Logic of ScienceCharles Sanders PeirceThe method of science, as Peirce describes it in The Fixation of Belief, requires letting reality correct one's opinions rather than clinging to them.1877-1878Munn v. IllinoisSupreme Court of the United StatesWaite leaves the judgment of fair rates to elected legislators, declining to set prices from the bench.1877The Prince and the PauperMark TwainEdward, mocked as Foo-foo the First, learns to bear insult and to honor a ragged soldier as his true friend.1881Life on the MississippiMark TwainTwain records how Bixby's test at the crossing sent him into a panic before the whole crew, and he tells it against himself.1883The Princess and CurdieGeorge MacDonaldCurdie confesses to the old princess that he has been doing wrong for many days, not just in shooting her pigeon.1883 (serialized 1882)Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark TwainAfter Jim rebukes his trick in the fog, Huck goes and apologizes to him and never plays him such a trick again.1884 (UK) / 1885 (US)KidnappedRobert Louis StevensonBoth David and Alan must swallow pride to end their quarrel, and Alan apologizes first.1886Little Lord FauntleroyFrances Hodgson BurnettWhen told he may lose the title, Cedric's only worry is whether he can still be his grandfather's boy.1886 (serialized 1885-86)Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeRobert Louis StevensonJekyll's confession shows a man who chose to hide his faults rather than admit them, and whose pride in his reputation helped create Hyde. Opposing vice: Pride.1886Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish PeasantryW. B. Yeats (editor)Lusmore, shunned for his deformity, adds modestly to the fairies' song and is rewarded, while the grasping Jack Madden is punished. Opposing vice: Pride.1888The Blue Fairy BookAndrew LangCinderella and kindred heroes are exalted after patient goodness. Opposing vice: Pride.1889Poems: First, Second and Third SeriesEmily DickinsonThe speaker of I'm nobody! Who are you? prefers to be nobody rather than tell her name all day, like a frog, to an admiring bog.1890–1896The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar WildeBasil tells Dorian in Chapter XIII that the prayer of his pride has been answered and begs him to kneel, which Dorian refuses to do. Opposing vice: Pride.1891Popular Scientific LecturesErnst MachMach describes scientific knowledge as the pooled experience of thousands of co-workers, gathered because no single finite mind could amass it alone.1894Atlanta Exposition AddressBooker T. WashingtonHe asks the audience not to expect overmuch from the exhibit and counts progress from a few quilts, pumpkins, and chickens.1895Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.Supreme Court of the United StatesFuller directs those who want a different rule to the people's power of amendment rather than to judicial reinterpretation.1895The Red Badge of CourageStephen CraneWilson returns from the first day stripped of his boasting and later asks Henry for his packet of letters with plain embarrassment.1895Captains CourageousRudyard KiplingHarvey returns to Disko after being knocked down and apologizes for calling him a thief.1897Lectures on CalvinismAbraham KuyperHe ends the series by insisting that the renewal of life is the prerogative of God, not the achievement of scholars or statesmen.1898The Story of a SoulTherese of LisieuxThérèse calls herself a little flower and seeks a way to Heaven fit for those too small to climb the stairs of perfection.1898The War of the WorldsH. G. WellsThe epilogue accepts that the earth is no secure abiding place and that humanity was saved by bacteria, not by its own devices. Opposing vice: Pride.1898The Theory of the Leisure ClassThorstein VeblenBy showing how the desire for invidious distinction shapes taste, the book asks readers to examine their own wish to be admired for what they own.1899Up from SlaveryBooker T. WashingtonHe corrects a correspondent who calls him Reverend, and treats janitor's work at Hampton as an honor.1901 (serialized 1900-01)Just So StoriesRudyard KiplingSuleiman-bin-Daoud falls on his face and admits he gave his great dinner only to show off.1902Science and HypothesisHenri PoincareChapter X concedes that the real objects of nature remain hidden and that science attains only the relations between them.1902The Story of King Arthur and His KnightsHoward PyleArthur serves as a gardener's boy at Cameliard, and Gawaine submits his will to the wife he married from duty.1903Christ LegendsSelma LagerlöfThe wise men find the Star again only after they repent of scorning the poor Child in the cave. Opposing vice: Pride.1904A Little PrincessFrances Hodgson BurnettWhen rich she tells Ermengarde that being clever matters less than being kind.1905Lochner v. New YorkSupreme Court of the United StatesHolmes writes that his own agreement or disagreement with an economic theory has nothing to do with the right of a majority to embody its opinions in law.1905The Scarlet PimpernelBaroness OrczyPercy accepts being laughed at by all London as a fool so that the work of rescue can go on unsuspected. Opposing vice: Pride.1905The Aim and Structure of Physical TheoryPierre DuhemDuhem limits physical theory to representing laws and refuses to claim that it reveals the ultimate nature of matter.1906Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of ThinkingWilliam JamesLecture I admits that temperament colours every philosopher's views, including James's own, and asks listeners to judge with that in mind.1907Anne of Green GablesL. M. MontgomeryAnne apologizes to Mrs. Lynde, confesses her faults to Marilla and finally ends her proud grudge against Gilbert.1908OrthodoxyG. K. ChestertonChapter I admits that the heresy Chesterton thought he had invented was the old creed all along, and Chapter III asks for humility about oneself rather than about the truth.1908If—Rudyard KiplingThe poem forbids looking too good or talking too wise and requires keeping the common touch while walking with Kings. Opposing vice: Pride.written c. 1895; published 1910Twenty Years at Hull-HouseJane AddamsAt eight she wears her old cloak to Sunday school, at her father's suggestion, so the other girls will not feel badly.1910Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)J. M. BarrieMr. Darling, who had been too proud to take his own medicine, lives in Nana's kennel until the children come home.1911 (as Peter and Wendy; play 1904)The Innocence of Father BrownG. K. ChestertonBrown tells Wilfred Bohun on the church tower that humility is the mother of giants, and his own refusal to think himself above sin is how he reads every criminal.1911The Problems of PhilosophyBertrand RussellIn Chapter XIV he concedes that philosophy cannot prove the grand claims of metaphysical systems, and in Chapter XV he makes uncertainty part of its value.1912PollyannaEleanor H. PorterMiss Polly sets aside years of pride to send for Dr. Chilton for Pollyanna's sake.1913The Story of My Boyhood and YouthJohn MuirWarned by his father against praise, he refuses to read or keep the newspaper notices of his inventions at the State Fair.1913The MetamorphosisFranz KafkaGregor hides under the couch so as not to frighten his sister and, at the end, accepts that he must disappear, thinking of his family with love.1915The Road Not TakenRobert FrostThe poem's admission that the roads were worn really about the same quietly exposes the temptation to inflate one's own choices into heroic stories. Opposing vice: Vainglory.1915; collected 1916Relativity: The Special and General TheoryAlbert EinsteinEinstein presents Newton's mechanics as surviving within his theory as a limiting case rather than as a discarded error.1916The Real Mother GooseBlanche Fisher Wright (illustrator); traditional rhymesComic falls and failures teach children to laugh at mishap without cruelty. Opposing vice: Pride.1916Understood BetsyDorothy Canfield FisherCousin Ann's question shows the sewing society they wanted thanks, and they give up their plan to be praised.1917 (serialized 1916)Bliss and Other StoriesKatherine MansfieldRevelations turns on Monica Tyrell's self-absorption being broken by the news of a hairdresser's dead child, a lesson in seeing others' sorrow. Opposing vice: Pride.1920The Mysterious Affair at StylesAgatha ChristiePoirot admits he nearly missed the letter in the spill-vase, though he had straightened the spills with his own hands.1920This Side of ParadiseF. Scott FitzgeraldOn the walk to Princeton Amory admits that he knows himself but nothing more, setting aside the egotism of his youth.1920Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other PlaysLuigi PirandelloLaudisi repeatedly reminds the townspeople that they cannot see into another's life, against their confident prying.1921The Golden Bough (abridged edition)James George FrazerIn Farewell to Nemi he grants that science itself may one day be superseded and that his answer has raised more questions than it settled.1922The Murder on the LinksAgatha ChristiePoirot tells the shamed Jack that all of us have been fools at one time or another, and points him toward a new life.1923Winnie-the-PoohA. A. MilnePooh’s little-brain comedy resists vanity without self-pity. Opposing vice: Pride.1926Buck v. BellSupreme Court of the United StatesThe confident scientific claims accepted by the legislature and the Court proved false, a warning against certainty in judging the worth of other people.1927Journey of the MagiT. S. EliotThe old Magus admits he cannot fully interpret what he saw and sets down his question honestly instead of claiming understanding.1927Orlando: A BiographyVirginia WoolfAmong the gypsies Orlando is made to see that her pride in four hundred years of ancestors looks vulgar to people whose lineage is far older.1928The House at Pooh CornerA. A. MilneRabbit, who set out to make Tigger small and sorry, is himself lost in the mist and is glad to be found by Tigger. Opposing vice: Pride.1928The Nature of the Physical WorldArthur EddingtonIn Chapter XII Eddington insists that physics knows only pointer readings and claims no knowledge of what things are in themselves.1928The Logic of Scientific DiscoveryKarl PopperPopper holds that even the best-tested theory remains a conjecture, since science rests on no bedrock.1934 (English 1959)Helvering v. DavisSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Court declares that the wisdom of the benefit scheme is not its question and limits itself to the question of power.1937The HobbitJ. R. R. TolkienThorin, dying, asks the hobbit's pardon and praises food, cheer and song above the gold he hoarded.1937West Coast Hotel Co. v. ParrishSupreme Court of the United StatesIn overruling Adkins, the Court openly acknowledges that its own earlier judgment had been mistaken.1937The Sword in the StoneT. H. WhiteThe Wart accepts that he will be only Kay's squire and runs to fetch Kay a sword without any thought of claiming it.1938Farewell to Baseball ("The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth")Lou GehrigGehrig says nothing of his own records and counts it an honour to have played beside his teammates.1939A Mathematician's ApologyG. H. HardyIn section 29 Hardy ranks his own achievement honestly below the greatest mathematicians and credits Littlewood and Ramanujan for his best work.1940The Screwtape LettersC. S. LewisScrewtape's long effort in Letter XIV to make the patient proud of his own humility shows by inversion that true humility is self-forgetfulness.1942Wickard v. FilburnSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Court declared that the wisdom, workability or fairness of the wheat plan was for Congress, not judges, to weigh.1942Johnny TremainEsther ForbesAfter his crippled hand ends his trade, Johnny slowly learns to accept help from Rab and to stop scorning others.1943The Little PrinceAntoine de Saint-ExupéryThe prince admits on Earth that he was too young to know how to love his rose and should have judged her by her deeds.1943West Virginia State Board of Education v. BarnetteSupreme Court of the United StatesBlack, Douglas and Murphy publicly acknowledged that they had erred in joining Gobitis and changed their votes.1943Order of the Day, 6 June 1944Dwight D. EisenhowerThe commander speaks of himself only to express confidence in his men and commits the outcome to God.1944The Hundred DressesEleanor EstesMaddie admits to herself that her silent laughter helped drive Wanda away, instead of excusing herself as Peggy does.1944The Road to SerfdomF. A. HayekHayek's argument rests on admitting that no planner can know enough to direct the lives and work of millions.1944What Is Life?Erwin SchrödingerSchrödinger opens by admitting he writes as an outsider to biology and marks his Epilogue as personal belief rather than science.1944That Hideous StrengthC. S. LewisJane gives up her guarded independence and accepts the Director's authority and finally God's claim on her in the garden at St Anne's.1945The Open Society and Its EnemiesKarl PopperPopper's praise of Socrates, who knew that he knew nothing, grounds his case for institutions that allow criticism and correction of error.1945Politics and the English LanguageGeorge OrwellOrwell admits that his own essay almost certainly commits the faults he is attacking.1946SEC v. W. J. Howey Co.Supreme Court of the United StatesFrankfurter defers to the trial judge who heard the evidence rather than substituting his own reading of the facts.1946The PearlJohn SteinbeckAt the end Kino gives up the Pearl of the World, flinging it back into the Gulf instead of clinging to the dream it promised.1947Amos Fortune, Free ManElizabeth YatesAngry at Violet for hiding the money, Amos climbs Monadnock to wait on God and comes down ready to forgive her.1950Prince CaspianC. S. LewisCaspian tells Aslan he does not feel fit to be king, being only a boy, and Aslan calls that answer a proof of fitness.1951Charlotte's WebE. B. WhiteWilbur, praised in the web as terrific and radiant, stays simple and grateful, and Charlotte chooses HUMBLE as the word for the fair.1952Mere ChristianityC. S. LewisLewis's chapter on the great sin in Book III teaches that the humble person is not preoccupied with himself and does not compete for the place above others.1952The Trojan WarOlivia CoolidgePriam goes alone by night to the tent of the man who killed his son and begs for Hector's body.1952The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderC. S. LewisAfter Aslan strips away his dragon skin, Eustace admits how unpleasant he had been and begins to work and share with the crew.1952Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. SawyerSupreme Court of the United StatesJackson acknowledged that as Attorney General he had advised a President to claim broad powers and allowed that experience to temper his judgment.1952Fahrenheit 451Ray BradburyFaber confesses to Montag that he saw the burnings coming and kept silent out of cowardice, and then risks his safety to help.1953Philosophical InvestigationsLudwig WittgensteinIn the preface Wittgenstein acknowledges grave mistakes in his own first book and offers the remarks as sketches, not a finished system.1953The Silver ChairC. S. LewisJill admits to Aslan that she was showing off at the cliff edge when Eustace fell.1953The Horse and His BoyC. S. LewisBree, ashamed of fleeing the lion, accepts the Hermit's rebuke and later lets Aslan touch him though he once thought the Lion only a figure of speech.1954The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. TolkienGaladriel and Faramir each refuse the Ring when it is within their grasp.1954-1955Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early LifeC. S. LewisLewis describes himself kneeling in 1929 not as a triumphant seeker but as a reluctant convert giving in.1955The Magician's NephewC. S. LewisDigory admits to Aslan that he struck the bell and woke the Witch, instead of blaming the verse or Polly.1955The FallAlbert CamusClamence's admission that his Paris benevolence fed his pride shows, by its absence in his earlier life, what humility in good works would require.1956Till We Have FacesC. S. LewisBefore the judges Orual hears her own complaint for what it is and gives up her case against the gods.1956A Bear Called PaddingtonMichael BondAfter the bath floods the house in Chapter 2, Paddington is sorry and anxious to put things right rather than making excuses.1958Personal KnowledgeMichael PolanyiPolanyi holds that a learner must submit to a master's example before he can acquire a skill such as diagnosis.1958Physics and PhilosophyWerner HeisenbergHeisenberg concludes that science cannot reach absolute truth by pure reason and that its concepts cover only part of reality.1958Structural AnthropologyClaude Lévi-StraussLévi-Strauss treats the thought of Kwakiutl, Cuna and Zuni healers and storytellers as rigorous logic to be learned from, not as error to be corrected.1958The Witch of Blackbird PondElizabeth George SpeareKit, who arrived with seven trunks of silk gowns, learns to card wool, make candles and work beside her cousins as one of the household.1958The Cricket in Times SquareGeorge SeldenFamous across the city, Chester gives up the crowds and returns to an ordinary life in his meadow.1960Freedom and the LawBruno LeoniHis comparison of legislation with central planning rests on the limits of any lawmaker's knowledge of the lives of millions.1961A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L'EngleCharles Wallace's confidence in his own mind lets IT capture him, while the weakest of the children is the one who rescues him, as the title of Chapter 12 declares.1962Baker v. CarrSupreme Court of the United StatesFrankfurter's dissent acknowledges that there is not a judicial remedy for every political mischief and that the Court's power has limits.1962The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsThomas S. KuhnKuhn's Postscript takes up critics' objections, admits that he used paradigm in too many senses, and clarifies rather than simply defends.1962Griswold v. ConnecticutSupreme Court of the United StatesBlack and Stewart vote to uphold a law they personally consider offensive and silly, subordinating their own views to their understanding of the judicial office.1965Miranda v. ArizonaSupreme Court of the United StatesWarren acknowledges that the Constitution does not require any specific code and invites legislatures to devise their own safeguards.1966Philosophy of Natural ScienceCarl G. HempelSemmelweis's conclusion meant that he, his colleagues and the students had themselves been carrying the infection to their patients.1966Frog and Toad Are FriendsArnold LobelAfter shouting at his helpers, Toad finds his own button on the floor at home and sets about making amends.1970A Theory of JusticeJohn RawlsThe veil of ignorance asks each reasoner to set aside knowledge of his own advantages when judging what is fair to all.1971Roe v. WadeSupreme Court of the United StatesRehnquist opens his dissent by saying the majority's historical research and legal scholarship command his respect before he states his disagreement.1973San Antonio Independent School District v. RodriguezSupreme Court of the United StatesPowell acknowledges that judges lack the expertise of legislators and educators in the persistent and difficult questions of school finance.1973The Gulag ArchipelagoAleksandr SolzhenitsynIn Part IV he admits that, had his life gone differently, he too might have become an interrogator, and refuses to place himself above the guilty.1973United States v. NixonSupreme Court of the United StatesJustice Rehnquist withdrew because of his earlier service in the administration, leaving the decision to colleagues without that connection.1974Against MethodPaul FeyerabendHis central claim is that no method and no expert tradition is beyond question, so that even established science must remain open to challenge.1975TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc.Supreme Court of the United StatesThe opinion leaves delicate judgments about what a reasonable shareholder would think to the trier of fact rather than to appellate judges.1976Grasshopper on the RoadArnold LobelWhen the dragonflies pity him for being slow, Grasshopper does not boast back but simply says how much he sees along the way.1978Addington v. TexasSupreme Court of the United StatesThe opinion candidly admits the limits of psychiatric knowledge and of judges' understanding of how jurors apply standards of proof.1979Diamond v. ChakrabartySupreme Court of the United StatesBoth opinions acknowledge that the Court lacks the competence to judge the risks of genetic research and that Congress must weigh them.1980Plyler v. DoeSupreme Court of the United StatesBurger declines to substitute his own view of good policy for the judgment of the Texas Legislature, even while saying he would have chosen differently.1982Youngberg v. RomeoSupreme Court of the United StatesBlackmun and the majority decline to settle questions the record did not clearly present, leaving them for a fuller case.1982The Sign of the BeaverElizabeth George SpeareMatt, who came to teach Attean reading, accepts being taught by him to make a fishhook, set snares and read the clan marks in the forest.1983Lowe v. SECSupreme Court of the United StatesWhite cautions judges against redrafting a statute to suit their own views, arguing that deference to Congress sometimes requires facing the constitutional issue squarely.1985Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahonSupreme Court of the United StatesStevens would defer to decades of consistent interpretation by other courts rather than substitute the Court's fresh reading.1987Basic Inc. v. LevinsonSupreme Court of the United StatesWhite acknowledges that judges without economic expertise should hesitate before resting legal rules on new economic theory.1988Reves v. Ernst & YoungSupreme Court of the United StatesStevens defers to decades of settled interpretation by other judges and the SEC rather than reopening the question himself.1990Gonzales v. RaichSupreme Court of the United StatesThe majority acknowledges the patients' strong arguments yet declines to decide medical questions it leaves to Congress, agencies and voters.2005District of Columbia v. HellerSupreme Court of the United StatesJustice Stevens argued that respect for the settled views of earlier Justices should restrain the Court from a sudden change in the law.2008Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic EyesTamim AnsaryIn his introduction Ansary describes realizing how little the world-history materials he worked on said about the Muslim story.2009Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.Supreme Court of the United StatesScalia declines to affirm scientific details he cannot confirm from his own knowledge, endorsing only what the expert briefs establish.2013The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an EmpireKyle HarperHarper presents his suggestion about the cause of the Plague of Cyprian as a hypothesis and distinguishes it from the DNA-confirmed cause of the plague of Justinian.2017
In Plutarch’s Lives
Solon, Publius Valerius Poplicola, Quintus Fabius Maximus, Timoleon, Aristides
Quotations
“to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people.”
“his instruction in poetry was not at all from men, nor through the aid of any man, but it was through divine inspiration and as a gift from God that he received the power of song”
“So I'm here to say I'm sorry”
“I am well aware that I am the umblest person going”
“Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean”
“it was the highest commendation of his doctrine with all men, that he taught nothing that he did not practise in his life among his brethren”
Frequently cited
““Cædmon, sing me something.” But he answered, “I cannot sing, and for this cause I left the banquet and retired hither, because I could not sing.””
Frequently cited
“for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature, especially when compound bodies are under consideration.”
Frequently cited
“I have seen tears in the Emperor's eyes — that is the real treasure to me.”
“he was so happy, and yet not at all proud.”
“three or four poor women sitting at a door, in the sun, talking about the things of God”
“In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility”
“Praised be God, and not our strength, for it”
Frequently cited
“Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”
Frequently cited
“We are not our own; therefore, neither is our own reason or will to rule our acts and counsels. We are not our own; therefore, let us not make it our end to seek what may be agreeable to our carnal nature. We are not our own; therefore, as far as possible, let us forget ourselves and the things that are ours. On the other hand, we are God's; let us, therefore, live and die to him (Rom. 14:8).”
Frequently cited
“I will not be ashamed to confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend or my words to express; and to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it.”
“Davie, Davie,” I thought, “was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name? Fie, fie; think shame”
“We’re neither one of us to mend the other--that’s the truth! We must just bear and forbear, man Alan”
“O Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not shrink from toil: your will be done”
“But if I have to be an earl, there's one thing I can do: I can try to be a good one.”
Frequently cited
“with a turn of the hand he made a circle, so true in proportion and circumference that to behold it was a marvel.”
“I would," said he, "much rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one”
“Then, Meno, the conclusion is that virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.”
“Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such.”
Frequently cited
“And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”
Frequently cited
“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed”
“Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute”
Frequently cited
“I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?”
“he felt himself merely the upper servant of his people, and that it must be his life-long labor to make them better and happier.”
“Only it grieves me when I understand What precious time in vanity I’ve spent”
“And though that he was worthy he was wise”
“the greatest mistakes and faults with regard to candles, as in many other things, often bring with them instruction which we should not receive if they had not occurred.”
Frequently cited
“But as I rav’d and grew more fierce and wilde At every word, Me thoughts I heard one calling, Childe: And I reply’d, My Lord.”
Frequently cited
“We came into the world like brother and brother, And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.”
“Ay me, how many perils doe enfold The righteous man, to make him daily fall, Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold, And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.”
“If any strength we have, it is to ill, But all the good is Gods, both power and eke will.”
Frequently cited
“just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
“But if men grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God’s fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone.”
“It is worth those persons' while to listen, who despise all things human in comparison with riches”
Frequently cited
“Love was the first Motion, and thence a Concern arose to spend some Time with the _Indians_, that I might feel and understand their Life, and the Spirit they live in”
“O! that all may take Heed and beware of Covetousness! O that all may learn of Christ, who was meek and low of Heart!”
Frequently cited
“Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.”
Frequently cited
“That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent.”
Frequently cited
“it was the Odes of Horace,--he being then like humble and innocent Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field”
Frequently cited
“the thought of what he had done would prove music to him at midnight”
Frequently cited
“a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master: in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.”
“So have all of us, at one time and another”
“he was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of GOD, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.”
Frequently cited
“we may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility and love.”
“Hold yourself in prayer before GOD, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's gate.”
“One does not become holy all at once.”
“And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!”
“Do better, and grow better, and be better.”
Frequently cited
“I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues.”
Frequently cited
“I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new.”
“So be it. For since I have taken thee for my wife, so must I show thee respect in all matters; wherefore thou shalt have thy will in this and in all other things”
“for it needs not that a man shall wear armor for to be a true knight, but only that he shall do his best endeavor with all patience and humility as it hath been ordained for him to do”
“I’ll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace.”
Frequently cited
“Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest; Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest”
“Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures.”
“people might be equal in things that mattered much more than clothes, the affairs of education and religion”
“You didn’t do it to help ’Lias. You did it to have him grateful to you.”
Frequently cited
“The sweeping of that room was my college examination”
Discussion questions
- Why did Christian writers call pride the root of other sins?
- Can a humble person know that he has real gifts?
- Which character in your reading falls through pride, and which rises through humility?
- How is humility different from low self-esteem?
Other virtues: Prudence · Justice · Fortitude · Temperance · Faith · Hope · Charity · Piety · Honor · Industry · Magnanimity · Friendship