Humility
Overview
 
Humility is the quality of being modest, and respectful. Humility, in various interpretations, is widely seen as a virtue
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....

 in many religious and philosophical traditions, being connected with notions of transcendent
Transcendence (philosophy)
In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...

 unity with the universe or the divine, and of egolessness
Egolessness
In psychology, egolessness is an emotional state where one feels no ego ; of having no distinct being apart from the world around oneself...

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The term "humility" comes from the Latin word humilitas, a noun related to the adjective , which may be translated as "humble", but also as "grounded", "from the earth", or "low", since it derives in turns from (earth).
Quotations

By humility, and the fear of the Lord, are riches, honor, and life.

The Bible, Proverbs 22:4

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The Bible, Matthew 5:5

Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters|The Screwtape Letters (1942), page 69 in the Harper Collins 2001 edition, ISBN 0-06-065293-4.

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.

Vincent de Paul, as quoted in A Year with the Saints (1891) by Anonymous, p. 47 Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

Humility, that low, sweet root,From which all heavenly virtues shoot.

T. Moore, p. 328.

True humility is a Christian grace and one of the fruits of the Spirit, originating in a deep consciousness of sin past and present, and leading us to discover our nothingness in the view of God, our insufficiency for any thing that is good, and prompting us, as we feel our infirmities, to strive after higher and yet higher attainments.

James McCosh, p. 329.

Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.

Chrysostom, p. 329.

They that know God will be humble,They that know themselves cannot be proud.

John Flavel, p. 329.

Be sure that your soul is never so intensely alive as when in the deepest abnegation it waits hushed before God.

Alexander Maclaren, p. 329.

Teach me. Lord, my true condition; Bring me childlike to Thy knee; Stripped of every low ambition,Willing to be led by Thee.

Henry Francis Lyte, p. 329.

 
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