“Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” St. Peter the Apostle (1st century)

“Humility is the mother, root, nurse, foundation, and center of all other virtues.” St. John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“Keep then, O happy sinner, keep carefully and watchfully this spirit of yours, this most fitting affection of humility and devotion by which you may always so think of yourself in humility and of the Lord in goodness. There is nothing greater than it among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nothing more precious in the treasures of God, nothing more holy among all the charisms, nothing more health-giving in all the sacraments. Keep, I say, if you wish yourself to be kept, the humility of that sentiment and word by which you confess to your Father and say, ‘Father, now I am not worthy to be called Your son: make me as one of Your hired servants.’ Nothing so wins your Father over as this sentiment, nor is there any better way of making yourself a worthy son than by always confessing yourself unworthy.” Bl. Gueric of Igny (11th-12th centuries)

“When you are visited by the Lord in prayer, you should say, ‘Lord, You have sent me this comfort from heaven, even though I am a sinner and unworthy, and I entrust it to Your keeping because I feel like a thief of Your treasures.’ And when you leave your prayer, you should seem to be only a poor little sinner, and not someone especially graced by God.” St. Francis of Assisi (12th-13th centuries)

“The reason why God is so great a lover of humility is because He is the great lover of truth. Now humility is nothing but truth, while pride is nothing but lying.” St. Vincent de Paul (16th-17th centuries)

“Humility and charity are the two master-chords: one, the lowest; the other, the highest; all the others are dependant on them. Therefore, it is necessary, above all, to maintain ourselves in these two virtues; for observe well that the preservation of the whole edifice depends on the foundation and the roof.” St. Vincent de Paul

“When we have possession of a true grain of humility, we possess a treasure and coin wherewith to purchase heaven and the Heart of God.” St. Jane Frances de Chantal (16th-17th centuries)

“Pray to God, ‘You are the Spirit and I am only the trumpet, and without Your breath I can give no sound’.” St. Joseph of Cupertino (17th century)

“Meditation on the self-abasement of our Lord in the Sacrament is the true road to humility. We are thus made to realize that His self-abasement is the greatest proof of His love, and that our self-abasement ought to be the proof of ours.” St. Peter Julian Eymard (19th century)

“Let us but know our own ignorance and weakness, and we are safe.” Bl. John Henry Newman (19th century)

“Get rid of those proud thoughts! You are but a brush in the hand of the artist, and nothing more. Tell me, what is a brush good for if it doesn’t let the artist do his work?” St. Josemaria Escriva (19th-20th centuries)

“The humble person is embarrassed with praise because he knows that his voice, his talents, or his power come to him from God. In his heart of hearts, he passes the thanks on to God when the lips of men exalt him. He takes praise as a window receives light, never to possess it and hoard it unto himself, but to pass it through with thanksgiving to God Who so endowed him.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“Self-knowledge puts us on our knees and it is very necessary for love. For knowledge of God produces love, and knowledge of self produces humility.” St. Teresa of Calcutta (20th century)