quotations about modesty
The beauty of the soul is wrapped in modest fashion.
LAILAH GIFTY AKITA
Think Great: Be Great!
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
Modesty is the delicate form of hypocrisy.
REMY DE GOURMONT
Philosophic Nights in Paris
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"
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
Modesty answers not the crude how of femininity, but the beautiful why.
WENDY SHALIT
A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue
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
Modesty is agreeable; extreme bashfulness is ridiculous.
JOHN FERRIAR
attributed, Day's Collacon
Darkness spoils modesty: no man blushes in the dark.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority.
CICERO
Rhetorical Invention
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
False modesty is the most decent of all deceptions.
NICOLAS CHAMFORT
The Cynic's Breviary
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Romeo and Juliet
Immodest words admit of no defence;
For want of decency is want of sense.
WENTWORTH DILLON
Essay on Translated Verse
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
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
Modesty is the color of virtue.
DIOGENES
attributed, Day's Collacon
Great Modesty often hides great Merit.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
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
The earth is large and old enough to teach us modesty.
HANS CLOOS
Conversation with the Earth