“Be a constant outrage to modesty There is nothing to fear: modesty is exercised only among the blind.”

“Why you?
- (…) I’m the best.
- Modest of you.
- I am the best. Modesty has nothing to say about it.”

Paul Hoffman book The Left Hand of God

“Nothing is worse than a beautiful girl fishing for compliments by saying how gross she is. On the flip side, I find genuine humility and modesty attractive.”

Chris Evans (actor) (1981) American actor

“It was easier to keep myself from becoming a success as an actor. Critics were careful not to outrage my modesty by their praise, and the public scrupulously refused to debauch me with applause. I have thought about it a good deal, and my conclusion is that I was ahead of my time. Or behind it.”

Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist

“They hate because they fear, and they fear because they feel that the deepest feelings of their lives are being assaulted and outraged. And they do not know why; they are powerless pawns in a blind play of social forces.”

Richard Wright (1908–1960) African-American writer

“The virtues chose Modesty to be their queen.
"I did not know that I was a virtue," she said. "Why did you not choose Innocence?"
"Because of her ignorance," they replied. "She knows nothing but that she is a virtue."”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

“By Allah no one is our Shī‘ah except that he has piety for God and obeys him. They (the Shī‘ah) are not known and recognized except for their humility, modesty, fear of God, trustworthiness, plenty of remembrance of God, fasting, service, kindness to the parents, looking after the poor neighbours and afflicted people, mentioning them with nothing except goodness and beneficence; and they are the trustees for their tribes in all the affairs.”

Muhammad al-Baqir (677–733) fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams

“Anyone who feels the urge to undertake such a task must dedicate himself for his labors as he would prepare for a pilgrimage to distant lands. He must spare no time or effort, fear no earthly power or rank, and rise above his own vanity or false modesty in order to tell, in accordance with the expression of the Code Napoléon, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

“Writing is a constant exercise in longing.”

Isabel Allende (1942) Chilean writer

“Liberal education, which consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds, is a training in the highest form of modesty. … It is at the same time a training in boldness. … It demands from us the boldness implied in the resolve to regard the accepted views as mere opinions, or to regard the average opinions as extreme opinions which are at least as likely to be wrong as the most strange or least popular opinions”

Leo Strauss (1899–1973) Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservativism