There are c. 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe, more than 27 for each person alive now (based on 7.3 billion population). And each galaxy has at least 100 billion suns. In our galaxy – the Milky Way, there are c. 400 billion suns or more than 50 suns for each person alive now. In the whole universe, that’s close to 3,000 suns per person. Some of these suns are more than 100x larger than ours. Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 13.2 billion years to get from here to the (as far as we know now) furthest away galaxy and yet as Anatole France says, “It is possible that our millions of suns make up altogether but a spec in a minute insect in a world vast beyond our ability to imagine which is in some other world no more than a speck of dust.” Why are we not humble?
“Those who would take over the world never succeed... The wise never over-reach, over-spend, or over-rate.”
“Never does a sage go ahead of other men, but always follows in their wake.”
“the form of the military is like water. Water in its movement avoids the high and hastens to the low. The military in its victory avoids the solid and strikes the empty. The water determines its movement in accordance with the earth. The military determines victory in accordance with the enemy.”
“Pride more than age hastens life to its end;
And they who in pride pretend
Beyond man's limit, will lose what lay
Close to their hand and sure.”
“The noblest thing a man can have is a humble and quiet heart... the wisest thing for a man to possess, if he but use it.”
“When asked by two high officials from the king to become the prime minister, ‘Give my compliments to His Majesty and tell him that I am happy right here crawling around in the mud.’”
“If a branch is too rigid, it will break… know how to yield, and you will survive.”
“Those who are wise cultivate the inner root and do not make a display of the outer twigs.”
“A student came to a rabbi and said, 'In the olden days, there were men who saw the face of God Why don't they any more?' The rabbi replied, 'Because nowadays no one can stoop so low.'”
“Humility is a mediator. It will always be the shortest distance between you and another person.”
“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“The first task of the person who wishes to live wisely is to free themselves from the confines of self-absorption... to live simply, do it for yourself, do it quietly, and don't do it to impress others”
“The world turns to the great state that cultivates humility. Thus, each gets what it wants. But it is the great state that needs to be more humble.”
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels”
“The rich and successful who become arrogant bring calamity upon themselves; the wise do not try to possess their achievements.”
“Even with the strength of a large state, it is necessary to always make oneself humbly insignificant.”
“People who are favored are honored. And because they are honored, they act proud. And because they act proud, they are hated… Hence sages consider success as well as failure to be a warning.”
“Although the ancient masters lived in the world, no one thought they were special.”
“Taoists don’t avoid what others hate… They only avoid what others fight over, namely flattery and ostentation.”
“By making ourselves lower than others we can use their wisdom and power as our own. Thus we can win without taking up arms, without getting angry, and without making enemies.”
“It is only at night that brilliance and color are pleasing. By day let your appearance be simple and sober but at night it is well to wear bright and gay garments.”
“Then give me neither thank nor give me blame
The fault, if anywhere my tale be lame,
... for who would dare assert
A blind man should in colors be expert?”
“Men often deceive themselves in believing that by humility they can overcome insolence.”
“Once things reach their limit, they go the other way… Thus to hide the light means the weak conquer the strong… Deep water is the best place for a fish. But once it is exposed to the air, a fish is completely helpless.”
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt in your philosophy.”
“He is twice as great who has all the perfections in the opinion of all except himself”
“When you hear something positive about yourself, keep a tight rein on your belief. When you hear something negative, give your belief the spur.”
“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
“The more we learn what humility is, the less we discover of it in ourselves”
“A Sermon Preached Before Fleas
My dear fleas, you are the cherished work of god; and this entire universe has been made for you. God created man only to serve as your food, the sun only to light your way, the stars only to please your sight, etc.”
“Every human action is determined by hereditary constitution, [the environment], the example and the teaching of others… This view should teach one profound humility—one deserves no credit for anything. Nor should one blame others… It’s right to punish criminals but solely to deter others.”
“the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
“We can see but little at a time, and heed that little far less than our apprehension of what we shall see next; ever peering curiously through the glare of the present into the gloom of the future, we presage the leading lines of that which is before us, by faintly reflected lights from dull mirrors and stumble on till the trap-door opens beneath us and we are gone.”
“We stand in much the same relation to the whole of the universe as our canine and feline pets do to the whole of human life… tangents to curves of history… as we are tangent to the wider life of things.”
“There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people.”
“Mahavira proclaimed in India that religion is a reality and not a mere social convention. It is really true that salvation can not be had by merely observing external ceremonies. Religion cannot make any difference between man and man.”
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life is based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
“Better to go unknown and leave behind an arch, then to burn like a meteor and leave no dust.”
“He remained vain to the end, merely pluming himself on his achievements instead of his appearance; but this is a fault that only the greatest saints can shun.”
“Sometimes, wandering alone in the woods on a summer day, we hear or see the movement of a hundred species of flying, leaping, creeping, crawling, burrowing things. Suddenly we perceive to what a perilous minority we belong on this impartial planet, and for a moment we feel, as these varied denizens clearly do, that we are passing interlopers in their natural habitat.”
“The last word must be one of humility... We need not be ashamed to worship heroes, if our sense of discrimination is not left outside their shrines.”
“Through it all I learned the value of being humble to the dust, reduced to ashes. Everyone should experience that. Before you can recognize you're somebody, you have to know you're nobody.”
“The principal teaching of Lao Tzu is humility... gentleness, resignation, the futility of contention, the strength of weakness.”
“It is good a philosopher should remind himself, now and then, that he is a particle pontificating on infinity.”
“one could say that the only way of approaching nature is to notice that man understands nothing—neither nature nor anti-nature”
“The moment that we become humble before nature and renounce the self, the self shall become assimilated into nature and nature shall allow it to live... It is enough merely to know this road and walk it every day.”
“The high art of a true Bodhisattva is possible only for him who has gone beyond all need for self-justification, for so long as there is something to prove, some ax to grind, there is no dance.”
“What gods notice, they destroy. Be humble and you will escape the jealousy of the great”
“needlessness of reassurance is a source of humility, because you do not have to confirm yourself anymore.”
“Civilizations are so quick to identify with their own particular brand of life that… they never have the humility to identify the source of the life and oneness running through their veins.”
“Without personal transformation, and without some sense of humility... greed and anger are pushing us over the cliff.”
“Most people tend to believe they are the center of the world and their culture is the linchpin of human history... Personally, I am all too familiar with such crass egotism because the Jews, my own people, also think that they are the most important thing in the world... Needless to say, the British, French, Germans, Americans, Russians, Japanese, and countless other groups are similarly convinced that humankind would have lived in barbarous and immoral ignorance if it hadn't been for the spectacular achievements of their nation.”
“Cultivating humility... can be enhanced by a heartfelt awareness that we are always in a state of development... there is always room to grow.”
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