Question Whence does a man perceive that he has attained to humility?

Humility has its origin in an awareness of unworthiness, and sometimes too in a dazzled awareness of saintliness.

Again he was asked, ‘How can a man acquire humility?’

The nearer any soul draws to God, the more humble will that soul lie before God...the most holy men have always been the most humble men...If the work be good, though never so low, humility will put a hand to it; so will not pride.

Show some humility. . . .

There's greater honor in been humble.

Better the absence of greatness than the establishing of a false greatness by assumed humility. Not only do these efforts at humility on man's part not express strength, they are, on the contrary, expressions of modesty born of weakness, which springs from a lack of knowledge of the truth of Reality. Beware of modesty. Modesty, under the cloak of humility, invariably leads one into the clutches of self-deception. Modesty breeds egoism, and man eventually succumbs to pride through assumed humility. The greatest greatness and the greatest humility go hand in hand naturally and without effort.

[Interviewer: You're not known to be a humble man. But I wonder—] I think I am actually humble. I think I'm much more humble than you would understand.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

People become concerned with being more humble than other people.

I became the most humble and despised of men, that by My humility thou mightest overcome thy pride.

A man may be humble through vainglory.

Humility is the fruit of inner security and wise maturity. To be humble is to be so sure of one’s self and one’s mission that one can forego calling excessive attention to one’s self and status. And, even more pointedly, to be humble is to revel in the accomplishments or potentials of others -- especially those with whom one identifies and to whom one is linked organically. (p38)

When virtues are pointed out first, flaws seem less insurmountable.