Modest Quotes

1. "I think that for the highest achievements nowadays... need to have the stable as a rock scientific base. And also need to own modesty."
Author: Alexander Alekhine

2. "And so I miss the fertilization that might come from a contact. And for me--yes, I think I might as well admit it--fertilization does come a great deal from contacts. Why then do I avoid them--in a sort of false pride--shyness--timorous modesty? I used to be afraid of falling in love with people--or having them think I was--that I was chasing them (how ridiculous--I am actually always running away!) but now surely--I should be mature enough to be over that. I am no longer afraid of falling in love, and the other false modesties should vanish. I cannot bear to think "par delicatesse j'ai perdu ma vie." (Because of discretion I have lost my life)."
Author: Anne Morrow Lindbergh

3. "But I have discovered something about modest people. They're just waiting for the call. Then they are the first over the wall and into the temple."
Author: Ann Marie MacDonald

4. "You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an average-sized adult you will contain within your modest frame no less than 7 X 10^18 joules of potential energy—enough to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point."
Author: Bill Bryson

5. "Yes, I hate orthodox criticism. I don't mean great criticism, like that of Matthew Arnold and others, but the usual small niggling, fussy-mussy criticism, which thinks it can improve people by telling them where they are wrong, and results only in putting them in straitjackets of hesitancy and self-consciousness, and weazening all vision and bravery....I hate it because of all the potentially shining, gentle, gifted people of all ages, that it snuffs out every year. It is a murderer of talent. And because the most modest and sensitive people are the most talented, having the most imagination and sympathy, these are the very first ones to get killed off. It is the brutal egotists that survive."
Author: Brenda Ueland

6. "...And in prayer this real I struggles to speak, for once from his being, and to address, for once, not the other actors, but--what shall I call Him? the Author, for He invented us all? The Producer, for He controls all? Or the Audience, for He watches, and will judge the performance? The attempt is not to escape from space and time and from my creaturely situation as a subject facing objects. It is more modest: to re-awaken the awareness of that situation. If that can be done, there is no need to go anywhere else. This situation itself is, at every moment, a possible theophany. Here is the holy ground; the Bush is burning now."
Author: C.S. Lewis

7. "Mature affection, homage, devotion, does not easily express itself. Its voice is low. It is modest and retiring, it lies in ambush, waits and waits. Such is the mature fruit. Sometimes a life glides away, and finds it still ripening in the shade."
Author: Charles Dickens

8. "Lefever describes his financing plan with modesty:"'Our detailed budget is realistic, but does not take into account the inflation that may occur before September 1983. The one place it could cut or reduce is item 7, the simultaneous interpreter services, if these services could be provided gratis by the U.S. government.'""In other words, the only way to make a saving on a U.S.-subsidized project is to take money out of another U.S.-subsidized column."
Author: Christopher Hitchens

9. "La falsa modestia no es una virtud, en ningún caso, y mucho menos en los que tienen a otros a su cargo.Nasuada"
Author: Christopher Paolini

10. "Although my early equipment was very modest, later I made my own and they were more powerful."
Author: Clyde Tombaugh

11. "Now it's easy for someone to set up a storefront and reach the entire world in very modest ways. So these technologies that we thought would dis-intermediate traditional sellers gave more people the tools to be sellers. It also changed the balance of power between sellers and buyers."
Author: Daniel H. Pink

12. "I Dwelt aloneIn a world of moan,And my soul was a stagnant tide,Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride-Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride Ah, less-less bright The stars of nightThan the eyes of the radiant girl! And never a flake That the vapor can make With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl-Can vie compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless curl Now Doubt-now Pain Come never again, For her soul gives me sigh for sigh, And all day long Shine, bright and strong, Astarte within the sky, While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye- While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye."
Author: Edgar Allan Poe

13. "I cannot become modest; too many things burn in me; the old solutions are falling apart; nothing has been done yet with the new ones. So I begin, everywhere at once, as if I had a century ahead of me."
Author: Elias Canetti

14. "The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest. It is he who invented the sublime art of ruining poetry."
Author: Erik Satie

15. "The smooth folds of her dress concealed a tumultuous heart, and her modest lips told nothing of her torment. She was in love."
Author: Gustave Flaubert

16. "Si je crois en Dieu? Oui, quand je travaille. Quand je suis soumis et modeste, je me sens tellement aidé par quelqu'un qui me fait faire des choses qui me surpassent."
Author: Henri Matisse

17. "He found on the spot the image of his recent history; he was like one of the figures of the old clock at Berne. THEY came out, on one side, at their hour, jigged along their little course in the public eye, and went in on the other side. He too had jigged his little course--him too a modest retreat awaited."
Author: Henry James

18. "Oh, make no mistake. I am no callow, ardent youth. I am an elderly man, broken in health and body, and soon to die. I am a scientist and a philosopher. I, as all the generations of philosophers before me, know woman for what she is—her weaknesses and meannesses and immodesties and ignobilities, her earth-bound feet and her eyes that have never seen the stars. But—and the everlasting, irrefragable fact remains: Her feet are beautiful, her eyes are beautiful, her arms and breasts are paradise, her charm is potent beyond all charm that has ever dazzled man; and, as the pole willy nilly draws the needle, just so, willy nilly, does she draw man."
Author: Jack London

19. "Though their life was modest, they believed in eating well."
Author: James Joyce

20. "You're a diabolical little pyro, aren't you?He blushed modestly."
Author: James Patterson

21. "Of course the merchandise appears to be cheaper. Because where there are so many things close together, they can hardly help not thinking of themselves as precious. In their own eyes they shrink, and they lower their prices, and they become humble, for humility in good expresses itself as cheapness. And since there are also so many shoppers crowded together, the goods make less of a challenge or an appeal to them; and so they too become humble. If the very large department store looked to begin with like a work of hubris, it comes to seem merely an enormous container for human smalless and modesty; an enormous confession of earthly cheapness."
Author: Joseph Roth

22. "First, you hand over some basics--overwhelming joy, existential angst, a giving-in to desire, etc. And then you promise to withstand talking idly about the weather, to encourage cliché, to uphold the virtues of average. You hand over the need to be understood and, in return, you get a bar of Normal soap. And you can wash in it and be daily reborn to a safe world of modest, enduring love or, at least, mild, well-mannered bonding."
Author: Julianna Baggott

23. "In all modesty, we must admit that governments are not always the best doctors when it comes to diagnosing economic ailments and prescribing the right treatment."
Author: Kim Campbell

24. "The occupying Russians, when they discovered that we were Americans, embraced us and congratulated us on the complete desolation our planes had wrought. We accepted their congratulations with good grace and proper modesty, but I felt then as I feel now, that I would have given my life to save Dresden for the World's generations to come. That is how everyone should feel about every city on Earth."
Author: Kurt Vonnegut

25. "Therefore: In dwelling, choose modest quarters, in thinking, value stillness, in dealing with others, be kind, in choosing words, be sincere, in leading, be just, in working, be competent, in acting, choose the correct timing. Follow these words and there will be no error."
Author: Lao Tzu

26. "Honestly, I grew up in pretty modest circumstances. We were a middle-class family."
Author: Larry Gagosian

27. "Modesty is superiority bowing to mediocrity."
Author: Laura C. Schlessinger

28. "As if all that weren't enough, factor in the whole tedious millenial saga of female virtue, modesty, shame, repression, male ineptitude...in short, a cruel combo of anatomical inheritance and sexual inhibition for the gal set; a nature-culture one-two punch, right to the female pleasure principle."
Author: Laura Kipnis

29. "There's no time to be modest. Reason will not work here. Without warning, I kiss Kartik. His lips, pressed firmly against mine, are a surprise. They are warm, light as breath, firm as the give of a peach against my mouth. A scent like scorched cinnamon hangs in the air, but I'm not falling into any vision. It's his smell in me. A smell that makes my stomach drop through my feet. A smell that pushes all thought out of my head and replaces it with an overpowering hunger for more."
Author: Libba Bray

30. "Miss Caldwell," Heath said politely, "what an unexpected pleasure.""Is it really an 'unexpected pleasure'?" Lucy asked as Sally went to help Daniel with the boat. "No and yes.""What does that mean?""No..it's not unexpected. And yes, it is a pleasure.""You planned this. You're with Sally because you knew she and I are friends and that the two of you would probably be sitting near Daniel and me at the picnic.""Such modesty. You think that I would be so devious, to go to such lengths for the sake of watching you eat a sandwich?"Lucy blushed, embarrassed by his light mockery and aware of how coneited she had sounded. "No, I don't really think that.""Well, I just might have."
Author: Lisa Kleypas

31. "Modesty should be typical of the success of a champion."
Author: Major Taylor

32. "I started out from a pretty modest background, so I always had a pretty good sense of money. I always had to work for my money, save my own money, I always bought my own stuff with my money... trying not to waste money unnecessarily."
Author: Marco Arment

33. "A Christian mother's first duty is to soil her child's mind, and she does not neglect it. Her lad grows up to be a missionary, and goes to the innocent savage and to the civilized Japanese, and soils their minds. Whereupon they adopt immodesty, they conceal their bodies, they stop bathing naked together."
Author: Mark Twain

34. "Note savages, eh? They live in mountain caves and dress like wild men. They walk about in woolen petticoats, which they are not in the least modest about casting aside when they need their sword arms free. Dash me, can you even begin to imagine the sight of a horde of naked, hairy-legged creatures charging at you across a battlefield like bloody fiends out of hell—screaming and flailing those great bloody swords and axes of theirs like scythes? Not savages?"
Author: Marsha Canham

35. "A modest dress is a very good thing, if it be the genuine indication of a humble heart, and is to instruct; but it is a bad thing if it be the hypocritical disguise of a proud ambitious heart, and is to deceive. Let men be really as good as they seem to be, but not seem to be better than really they are."
Author: Matthew Henry

36. "Dead, we are revealed in our true dimensions, and they are surprisingly modest."
Author: Michael Cunningham

37. "Jealousy isn't a pleasant quality, but if it isn't overdone (and if it's combined with modesty), apart from its inconvenience there's even something touching about it."
Author: Milan Kundera

38. "I don't take fancy vacations. I buy all my jewelry at Claire's. I can't remember the last time I went out to a fancy dinner. My family lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment, and my kids share a bedroom. But I do have one extravagant vice: shoes."
Author: Nancy Lublin

39. "A única pessoa que muda de verdade a face do planeta é aquele que lavra modestamente o seu terreno."
Author: Ramón Gómez De La Serna

40. "Jill was tall and slim, like most Moroi. With that figure came a modest chest. Angeline's chest...was not so modest."
Author: Richelle Mead

41. "I grew up very modest, and I never forget that."
Author: Ronnie Dunn

42. "And eventually in that house where everyone, even the fugitive hiding in the cellar from his faceless enemies, finds his tongue cleaving dryly to the roof of his mouth, where even the sons of the house have to go into the cornfield with the rickshaw boy to joke about whores and compare the length of their members and whisper furtively about dreams of being film directors (Hanif's dream, which horrifies his dream-invading mother, who believes the cinema to be an extension of the brothel business), where life has been transmuted into grotesquery by the irruption into it of history, eventually in the murkiness of the underworld he cannot help himself, he finds his eyes straying upwards, up along delicate sandals and baggy pajamas and past loose kurta and above the dupatta, the cloth of modesty, until eyes meet eyes, and then"
Author: Salman Rushdie

43. "The world spares only those who remain modest and humble - and even then only for an interval, no more."
Author: Sándor Márai

44. "A few of the guests, who had the misfortune of being too near the windows, were seized and feasted on at once. When Elizabeth stood, she saw Mrs. Long struggle to free herself as two female dreadfuls bit into her head, cracking her skull like a walnut, and sending a shower of dark blood spouting as high as the chandeliers.As guests fled in every direction, Mr. Bennet's voice cut through the commotion. "Girls! Pentagram of Death!"Elizabeth immediately joined her four sisters, Jane, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia in the center of the dance floor. Each girl produced a dagger from her ankle and stood at the tip of an imaginary five-pointed star. From the center of the room, they began stepping outward in unison - each thrusting a razor-sharp dagger with one hand, the other hand modestly tucked into the small of her back."
Author: Seth Grahame Smith

45. "These fools who haven't the slightest idea how to live the morals they espouse. These fools who proclaim themselves men of God, yet show not the slightest reverance to His word...Is it any different from a drunkard preaching temperance? A whore preaching modesty?"
Author: Seth Grahame Smith

46. "Edward can do everything, right?" I explained.Jasper snickered and Esme gave Edward a reproving look. "I hope you haven't been showing off-it's rude," she scolded."Just a bit," he laughed freely."He's been too modest actually," I corrected."Well, play for her," Esme encouraged."You just said showing off was rude," he objected."There are exceptions to every rule," she replied."
Author: Stephenie Meyer

47. "Our dress affects not only our thoughts and actions but also the thoughts and actions of others. Accordingly, Paul the Apostle counseled "women [to] adorn themselves in modest apparel" (1 Timothy 2:9).The dress of a woman has a powerful impact upon the minds and passions of men. If it is too low or too high or too tight, it may prompt improper thoughts, even in the mind of a young man who is striving to be pure.Men and women can look sharp and be fashionable, yet they can also be modest. Women particularly can dress modestly and in the process contribute to their own self-respect and to the moral purity of men. In the end, most women get the type of man they dress for.[Ensign, Mar. 2014, 47-48]"
Author: Tad R. Callister

48. "Modesty is only arrogance by stealth."
Author: Terry Pratchett

49. "Individual psychotherapy - that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship - requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist must be patient, modest, and a perceptive listener, rather than a talker and advice-giver."
Author: Thomas Szasz

50. "Modesty is a reflex, arising naturally to help a woman protect her hopes and guide their fulfillment -specifically, this hope for one man. (...) Along with this hope comes a certain vulnerability, because every time a man fails to stick by us, our hopes are, in a sense, dashed. This is where modesty fits in. For modesty armed this special vulnerability -not to oppress women, but with the aim of putting them on an equal footing with men. The delay modesty created not only made it more likely that women could select men who would stick by them, but in turning lust into love, it changed men from uncivilized males who ran after as many sexual partners as they can get to men who really wanted to stick by one woman."
Author: Wendy Shalit

Modest Quotes Pictures