Modest Quotes

• A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

  Confucius

  Love, Inspirational, Funny

  Confucius “The Analects”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest.

  Orson Welles

  Tough, Bigs

  Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich (1992). “This is Orson Welles”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The awareness of our own strength makes us modest.

  Paul Cezanne

  Strength, Awareness, Spiritual Awareness

  62 Copy quote

• Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

  Gustave Flaubert

  Inspirational, Travel, Adventure

  129 Copy quote

• Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise.

  William Shakespeare

  Wise, Doubt, Beacons

  William Shakespeare (2016). “The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition: The Complete Works”, p.1931, Oxford University Press

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• Be modest, humble, simple. Control your anger.

  Abraham Cahan

  Humble, Simple, Be Humble

  Abraham Cahan (2013). “The Rise of David Levinsky”, p.43, Courier Corporation

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• Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Challenges, Rich, Grew Up

  Transcript of Obama-Sotomayor announcement, www.cnn.com. May 26, 2009.

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• Leaders should be collaborative, modest, and generous

  Bill Bradley

  Teamwork, Leader, Collaboration

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• To test a modest man's modesty do not investigate if he ignores applause, find out if he abides criticism.

  Franz Grillparzer

  Humility, Pride, Men

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• He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

  Confucius

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  Confucius, Mencius, Ssǔ shu, Wu king, Shu Ching (1861). “The Chinese Classics”, p.148

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• Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person

  Horace

  Literature, Sullen, Modesty

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• In childhood be modest, in youth temperate, in adulthood just, and in old age prudent.

  Socrates

  Life, Childhood, Age

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• The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.

  Erik Satie

  Inspiring, Animal, Musician

  61 Copy quote

• I wasn't trying to top Pulp Fiction with Jackie Brown. I wanted to go underneath it and make a more modest character study movie.

  Quentin Tarantino

  Movie, Character, Trying

  Interview With Jeff Otto, www.ign.com. October 10, 2003.

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• I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... but I am too busy thinking about myself.

  Edith Sitwell

  Time, Thinking, Modesty

  In Observer 30 Apr. 1950

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• Black is modest and arrogant at the same time.

  Yohji Yamamoto

  Black, Arrogant

  29 Copy quote

• Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.

  Winston Churchill

  Men, Modesty

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• I'm a very modest person. But I'm also extremely confident. And if you put me in the situation or in the moment, I'm gonna have some swagger, I'm gonna have some cockiness

  Drew Brees

  Swagger, Moments, Cockiness

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• Some are made modest by great praise, others insolent.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Praise, Made, Insolent

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• True humility is intelligent self-respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us mindful of the nobility God meant us to have. Yet it makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.

  Ralph Washington Sockman

  Humility, Intelligent, Thinking

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• Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

  Paul Rand

  Inspirational, Ideas, Goal

  50 Copy quote

• In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.

  William Shakespeare

  Memorial Day, Peace, War

  'Henry V' (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 1

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• The modest person is usually admired, if people ever hear of them.

  E. W. Howe

  Humility, People, Modesty

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• Because primarily of the power of the Internet, people of modest means can band together and amass vast sums of money that can change the world for some public good if they all agree.

  William J. Clinton

  Mean, People, Together

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• Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.

  Maya Angelou

  Wall, Modesty, Slam

  6 Copy quote