'If any one thought to sweeten the vast waters of the sea with one drop of fresh water, would he not be justly regarded as a fool? So also the man who thinks or hopes to do any good without the help of God grievously deceives himself. If he claims any good as his own, God will not fail to humble and confound him; such a man could never become the Lord's instrument, nor accomplish great things for His glory.'
--St. Paul of the Cross
Imitation of Christ
1.7 False Hope & Pride
The Seventh Chapter
Avoiding False Hope and Pride
VAIN is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things.
Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud.
If you have wealth, do not glory in it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God Who gives all things and Who desires above all to give Himself. Do not boast of personal stature or of physical beauty, qualities which are marred and destroyed by a little sickness. Do not take pride in your talent or ability, lest you displease God to Whom belongs all the natural gifts that you have.
Do not think yourself better than others lest, perhaps, you be accounted worse before God Who knows what is in man. Do not take pride in your good deeds, for God's judgments differ from those of men and what pleases them often displeases Him. If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger.
"Will we fulfill God's purpose, or will we shrink back and live a comfortable, self-centered life?"
--Rick Warren
"We shall see clearly that is is greater to despise the world than to have it at one's command; that it is infinitely preferable to submit to the humblest of men for God's sake, than to command kings and princes; that a humble knowledge of ourselves surpasses the deepest sciences; in short, that greater praise is due to him who curbs his passions on the most trivial occasions, than to him who conquers the strongest cities and defeats entire armies."
- Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli
"Without the necessary humility to worship, I subconsciously desired to be worshiped, not in a crazy Napoleanic manner, but like a modern-day celebrity."
- Tarek Saab, Gut Check
"It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world."
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga
'They who when they have got a little devotion think they are some great one, are only fit to be laughed at.'
--St. Philip Neri
"We may think it humility not to realize that the Lord is bestowing gifts upon us. Let us understand very, very clearly, how this matter stands. God gives us these gifts for no merit of ours. Let us be grateful to His Majesty for them, for, unless we recognize that we are receiving them, we shall not be aroused to love Him. And it is a most certain thing that, if we remember all the time that we are poor, the richer we find ourselves, the greater will be the profit that comes to us and the more genuine our humility."--Saint Teresa of Avila
'Therefore God says to this proud man: If you seek, according to the nature of the created soul, for such great things as seem at present to be good and for that happiness which belongs to earth, know that they are not; they cannot satisfy nor afford contentment. Seek rather in heaven, where pride is lawful, and where it is not placed in things empty and vain, but in those which are really great, which always remain and which cause a sinless pride; but if you seek after worthless things you shall never find them and shall lose those which you should have sought.'
--St. Catherine of Genoa
'I will make you appear so poor, so vile and so abject in your own eyes, and will so completely annihilate you in your own opinion, that I may be able to build up My own Self upon this nothingness.'
The Lord, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
"It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope."
- Pope John XXIII
"He who is the beginning and the end, the ruler of the angels, made Himself obedient to human creatures. The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant."
- St. Anthony
"As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed."
--James Allen
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish tasks as though they were great and noble."
--Helen Keller
"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you."
--Paul Bryant
"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."
--Mother Theresa
"Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."
–Marcus Aurelius
"...with God, all things are possible."
"From self-knowledge flows the stream of humility, which never seizes on mere report, nor takes offense at anything, but bears every insult, every loss of consolation, and every sorry, from whatever direction they may come, patiently, with joy."
-Saint Catherine of Siena
"As waters from from the mountains down onto the valleys, so too do God's graces flow only onto humble souls."
–Saint Faustina Kowalska
"The way of a fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise."
"The fool immediately shows his anger, but the shrewd man passes over an insult."
"As the crucible tests silver and the furnace gold, so a man is tested by the praise he receives."
-Proverbs 27:21
"Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements."
--Saint John Climacus
"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."
--Saint Augustine
"Humility is the virtue that requires the greatest amount of effort"
--St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
"I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."
-Saint Anthony the Great
"For there is no obedience without humility, nor humility without charity."
--Saint Catherine of Siena
"Our body has this defect that the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds."
–Saint Teresa of Avila
"Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything."
--Saint Mark the Ascetic
"How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me!"
--Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
"Why not learn to enjoy the little things—there are so many of them."
--Saint John Chrysostom
"It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance."
--Saint Jerome
"Beauty, when unadorned, is adorned the most."
--Saint Jerome
"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind."
--Ecclesiastes 4:6
"True humility scarcely ever utters words of humility."
--Saint Francis de Sales
"It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels."
--Saint Augustine
"We shall see clearly that it is greater to despise the world than to have it at one's command; that it is infinitely preferable to submit to the humblest of men for God's sake than to command kings and princes; that a humble knowledge of ourselves surpasses the deepest sciences; in short, that greater praise is due to him who curbs his passions on the most trivial occasions, than to him who conquers the strongest cities and defeats entire armies."
--Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli
"Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my whole will, all I have and all I possess. You gave it all to me; to you, Lord, I return it. It is all yours: do with me entirely as you will. Give me your love and your grace: this is enough for me."
- St. Ignatius of Loyola
"Let us not be afraid to be humble, small, helpless to prove our love for God. The cup of water you give the sick, the way you lift a dying man, the way you feed a baby, the way you teach a dull child, the way you give medicine to a sufferer of leprosy, the joy with which you smile at your own at home - all this is God's love in the world today."
-- Mother Teresa
"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work."
-- Mother Teresa
