“Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

 
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” St. Augustine of Hippo

“Hence, brethren, if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life, we must by our ascending actions erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream, on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending. By that descent and ascent we must surely understand nothing else than this, that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility. And the ladder thus set up is our life in the world, which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled. For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder, and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.” St. Benedict of Nursia (5th-6th centuries)

“Be humble in this life, that God may raise you up in the next.” St. Stephen of Hungary (10th-11th centuries)

“Great graces cannot be obtained without humility; so those who are to have them must be humiliated.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux (11th-12th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“We need to fall and we need to see that we have done so. For if we never fell we should not know how weak and pitiable we are in ourselves. Nor should we fully know the wonderful love of our Maker.” Bl. Julian of Norwich (14th-15th centuries)

“We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.” St. Teresa of Avila (16th century, Doctor of the Church)

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” St. Andre Bessette (19th-20th centuries)

“My friend, if you want to be great, become little.” St. Josemaria Escriva (19th-20th centuries)

“You’re not humble when you humble yourself, but when you are humbled by others and you bear it for Christ.” St. Josemaria Escriva

 
“That man wears honor best who knows in his own heart that he does not deserve it, and who, in the face of becoming more and more, makes himself less and less. The wise man never vaunts his learning; the real saints are the hardest to recognize, the spurious saints wear placards. Humility is the condition of greatness.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

 
“The less we think we are, the more good we do…reducing themselves to zero they leave room for infinity, whereas those who think themselves infinite, God leaves with their little zero. Humility is dependence on God as pride is independence of Him. The Humble soul is always the thankful soul.” Ven. Fulton Sheen