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Modesty: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it gives it strength and makes it stand out.— DE LA BRUYÈRE — The Characters or Manners of the Present Age. Ch. II. Sec. 17.

Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority.— CICERO — Rhetorical Invention. Bk. II. Sec. LVI.

Immodest words admit of no defence; For want of decency is want of sense.— WENTWORTH DILLON — Essay on Translated Verse. L. 113.

Thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.— HENRY FIELDING — Tom Thumb the Great. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 8.

Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.— GOLDSMITH — The Deserted Village. L. 329.

Can it be That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary And pitch our evils there? Measure for Measure. Act 2. Sc. 2. L. 167. Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 27.

He saw her charming, but he saw not half The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.— THOMSON — The Seasons. Autumn. L. 229.

Maximum ornamentum amicitiæ tollit, qui ex eâ tollit verecundiam. He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty from it.— CICERO — De Amicitia. XX.

Cui pudor et justitiæ soror incorrupta fides nudaque veritas quando ullum inveniet parem? What can be found equal to modesty, uncorrupt faith, the sister of justice, and undisguised truth?— HORACE — Carmina. I. 24. 6.

Adolescentem verecundum esse decet. Modesty becomes a young man.— PLAUTUS — Asinaria. V. 1. 8.

Wenn jemand bescheiden bleibt, nicht beim Lobe, sondern beim Tadel, dann ist er's. When one remains modest not after praise but after blame, then is he really so.— JEAN PAUL RICHTER — Hesperus. 12.