MODESTY QUOTES II

quotations about modesty

Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there?

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Measure for Measure

Tags: William Shakespeare


I will not be modest. Humble, as much as you like, but not modest. Modesty is the virtue of the lukewarm.

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

The Devil and the Good Lord

Tags: Jean-Paul Sartre


Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority.

CICERO

Rhetorical Invention

Tags: Cicero


Modesty, if it were to be recommended for nothing else, this were enough, that the pretending to little leaves a man at ease; whereas boasting requires a perpetual labour to appear what he is not.

ALEXANDER POPE

"Thoughts on Various Subjects"

Tags: Alexander Pope


The beauty of the soul is wrapped in modest fashion.

LAILAH GIFTY AKITA

Think Great: Be Great!


Modesty answers not the crude how of femininity, but the beautiful why.

WENDY SHALIT

A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue


Modesty is the delicate form of hypocrisy.

REMY DE GOURMONT

Philosophic Nights in Paris


True modesty conceals whatever is offensive to decency; false modesty, that which is disagreeable to fashion: the one is silent and natural, the other protrusive and impertinent.

NORMAN MACDONALD

Maxims and Moral Reflections

Tags: Norman MacDonald


The proper name for the thing is modesty; but as we live in an age of prejudice and must not call things by their right names, we will yield to a more modern nomenclature and call it dignity.

G. K. CHESTERTON

What's Wrong with the World

Tags: G. K. Chesterton


Darkness spoils modesty: no man blushes in the dark.

BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE

Moral and Religious Aphorisms

Tags: Benjamin Whichcote


Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean. And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?

KAHLIL GIBRAN

The Prophet

Tags: Khalil Gibran


Modesty is agreeable; extreme bashfulness is ridiculous.

JOHN FERRIAR

attributed, Day's Collacon


Immodest words admit of no defence;
For want of decency is want of sense.

WENTWORTH DILLON

Essay on Translated Verse

Tags: Wentworth Dillon


What is modesty but inverted pride?

CHINUA ACHEBE

A Man of the People

Tags: Chinua Achebe


Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Romeo and Juliet

Tags: William Shakespeare


Modesty is the color of virtue.

DIOGENES

attributed, Day's Collacon


Modesty never rages, never murmurs, never pouts; when it is ill-treated, it pines, it beseeches, it languishes.

RICHARD STEELE

The Tatler, August 29, 1710

Tags: Richard Steele


False modesty is the most decent of all deceptions.

NICOLAS CHAMFORT

The Cynic's Breviary

Tags: Nicolas Chamfort


The affected modesty of most women is a decoy for the generous, the delicate, and unsuspecting; while the artful, the bold, and unfeeling either see or break through its slender disguises.

WILLIAM HAZLITT

Characteristics

Tags: William Hazlitt


Great Modesty often hides great Merit.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758

Tags: Benjamin Franklin