Posts Tagged ‘30’

“Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.”
~ Matthew 5.5

Introduction

Posted today are three related articles about “humility” as a supreme spiritual virtue. Please consider them collectively.

The first article, is a Q and A essay which defines humility and explains why it is considered a great spiritual virtue inversely associated with “ego”; this second article includes many important quotations about humility; and the third article lists (with an mp3 audio recitation) numerous Sutra Sayings which epigrammatically elucidate humility.

Humility ~ Quotations

“Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues.”
~ Confucius

“Holy humility confounds pride

and all the men of this world

and all things that are in the world.”

~ St. Francis of Assisi

“Spirituality automatically leads to humility. 
When a flower develops into a fruit,
 the petals drop off on its own.
 When one becomes spiritual,
 the ego vanishes gradually on its own.
A tree laden with fruits always bends low.

Humility is a sign of greatness.”

~ Sri Ramakrishna

“[The Master’s] constant practice is humility.”;
“Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.”
~ Lao Tzu

Moses was very meek,
above all men on face of the earth.
~ Numbers 12:3

Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
~ Proverbs 16:18

Jesus said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.”
~ Matthew 11:29,30

“I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me,
he doth the works.”
~ John 14:10;  

“..I can of mine own self do nothing…
I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father
which hath sent me.”
~ John 5:30.

“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
~ James 4:6

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
~ Matthew 23:12

“Humility, like darkness,
reveals the heavenly lights.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

“We come nearest to the great
when we are great in humility.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Dedication and Invocation

In these critical times of immense suffering and jeopardy, yet unprecedented opportunity, let us join together with utmost love and humility in envisioning our precious planet democratically ruled bottom-up by humble, peaceful and compassionate citizens, rather than top-down by insensitive and egotistic purported “leaders” who are emotionally sociopathic or psychopathic.

May these biblical passages prove prescient:

Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
~ Proverbs 16:18

God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
~ James 4:6

And so shall it be.

Ron Rattner