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• Modesty: The quality or state of being unassuming in the estimation of one’s abilities. Oxford Dictionary
• Modesty: The quality of not talking about or not trying to make people notice your abilities and achievements. Cambridge Dictionary
• Modesty: Having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one’s merits, importance, etc.; free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.  Dictionary.com
• Modesty: The quality of not being too proud or confident about yourself or your abilities.  Merriam Webster
• Humility,  Arrogance,  Pride,  Vanity

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Modesty and humility are different things … 

• True humility is an acknowledgement to the self of our limitations and hence it is an internal concept. Humility, therefore, is inward-looking, and concerned only with the self. Modesty, on the other hand, is outward-looking, and is concerned with others.  Manoj Khatri
• Modest describes the behaviour of not flaunting oneself, talking oneself up or putting oneself on display. In contrast, “humble” refers specifically to a person’s inner state and feelings.  In summary, being modest refers to your behaviour, being humble refers to your ego.  Raissa
• Perfect humility dispenses with modesty. C S Lewis
• Humility

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… although they can affect each other 

• Modesty is a matter of how you present yourself, not drawing attention to your good points. The habit of modesty is conducive to humility, since it is the practice of keeping ego in check, but it is not the same thing. Even the proudest person can behave modestly, while secretly nurturing excessive self-admiration. But modesty can become meekness when it means allowing others to get ahead of you simply by virtue of their greater willingness to let their qualities be known. Modesty is therefore good to the extent that it promotes humility. If we can limit our self-promotion to no more than is necessary and we are not taken in by our own hype, this humility can and should survive, even as modesty becomes ever more rare.   Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini

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Some argue that modesty is a great virtue 

• The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue. Confucius
• Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue. Joseph Addison
• Modesty is the color of virtue. Diogenes of Sinope
• Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues. Oliver Goldsmith
• Virtue,  Values to live by

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They argue that true modesty compliments talent and merit while conceit spoils it 

• The awareness of our own strength makes us modest. Paul Cezanne
• Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty. Louisa May Alcott
• Modesty is to merit, as shades to figures in a picture, giving it strength and beauty. Jean de la Bruyere
• A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. Joseph Addison
• The modesty’s a candle to thy merit. Henry Fielding
• Talent

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They argue that modesty can bring inner peace and ease 

• There was a tremendous modesty in the man as he spoke, a quietness and dignity. There was a simplicity and honesty and unselfconsciousness, and a tremendous peace. Walter Russell
• Modesty, if it were to be recommended for nothing else, this were enough, that the pretending to little leaves a man at ease; whereas boasting requires a perpetual labour to appear what he is not. Alexander Pope
• Inner peace,  Effortlessness

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More thoughts in favour of modesty 

• Modesty is the chastity of merit, the virginity of noble souls. Madame de Girardin
• Good taste is the modesty of the mind – that is why it cannot be either imitated or acquired. Delphine De Girardin
• There’s a lot to be said for the fellow who doesn’t say it himself. Maurice Switzer
• It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.  Judith Martin
• He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good. Confucius
• Modesty may make a fool seem a man of sense. Jonathan Swift

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Others argue modesty is vastly overrated and not a virtue 

• Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue. John Kenneth Galbraith
• Modesty and unselfishness: These are the virtues which men praise, and pass by. Andre Maurois
• Because impudence is a vice, it does not follow that modesty is a virtue; it is built upon shame, a passion in our nature, and may be either good or bad according to the actions performed from that motive. Bernard de Mandeville
• Vice

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They argue modesty can be a sign you undervalue yourself, which means you’ll be undervalued by others 

• Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others. William Hazlitt
• Self-worth

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They argue that if you have real talent, modesty is hypocrisy 

• With people of only moderate ability modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy. Arthur Schopenhauer
• Talent

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Modesty gets a bad reputation because it can often be pretentious and false … 

• Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise. Lord Chesterfield
• Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it. Oliver Herford
• Modesty: The art of encouraging people to find out for themselves how wonderful you are. 
• Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false. Joseph Addison
• False modesty is the most decent of all deceptions. Chamfort
• True modesty conceals whatever is offensive to decency; false modesty, that which is disagreeable to fashion: the one is silent and natural, the other protrusive and impertinent. Norman Macdonald
• Modesty often consists of belittling one’s own talents and accomplishments for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from others. Manoj Khatri

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… just a form of pride in disguise 

• Modesty is only arrogance by stealth. Terry Pratchett
• What is modesty but inverted pride? Chinua Achebe
• Pride

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More thoughts against modesty 

• His modesty amounts to deformity. Margot Asquith
• No modest man ever did or ever will make a fortune. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
• Modesty is a quality in a lover more praised by the women than liked. Richard Brinsley Sheridan

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Maybe the right answer lies in a delicate balance

• The delicate balance between modesty and conceit is popularity. Max Beerbohm
• Balance

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Modesty can be taken to excess if we never acknowledge what’s good about us… 

• It is true that excessive modesty is by no means an undiluted good, and needs a corrective. Many people are in the habit of brushing away their qualities and achievements with some kind of “it’s nothing really” reflex. Why shouldn’t we openly acknowledge and be proud of the good things about ourselves and what we’ve done? Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini

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… but we must watch that this recognition not slide into vanity or false pride 

• We need to watch that such healthy recognition does not slide into vanity, excessive pride and an inflated sense of importance, which reflect back to us a distorted image of ourselves and do nothing to promote flourishing. Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini
• Vanity

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The yoke of expectation of modesty has been imposed on women for centuries 

• No education can be of true advantage to young women but that which trains them up in humble industry, in great plainness of living, in exact modesty of dress. William Law
• There are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance. Arthur Helps
• Nothing can atone for the lack of modesty; without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable. Sir Richard Steele
• Modesty is the richest ornament of a woman … the want of it is her greatest deformity. Charles Caleb Colton
• There is nothing in the female sex more graceful or becoming than modesty. It adds charm to their beauty and gives a new softness to their sex. Without it simplicity and innocence appear rude; reading and good sense, masculine; wit and humour, lascivious. This is so necessary a quality for pleasing, that the loose part of the sex, whose study it is to ensnare men’s hearts, never fail to support the appearance of what they know is essential to that end. Wellins Calcott
• When virtue and modesty enlighten her charms, the lustre of a beautiful woman is brighter than the stars of heaven, and the influence of her power it is in vain to resist. Akhenaton
• The affected modesty of most women is a decoy for the generous, the delicate, and unsuspecting; while the artful, the bold, and unfeeling either see or break through its slender disguises. Wiliam Hazlitt
• Remember that with her clothes a woman puts off her modesty. Herodotus

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Thankfully, that is now changing to a certain extent 

• Modesty used to be considered a natural female attribute. No more. Linda Chavez
• It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness. Ninon de Lenclos

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Modest or not, it’s important to value our uniqueness if we want to be happy 

• Having a low opinion of yourself is not ‘modesty.’ It’s self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not ‘egotism.’ It’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success. Bobbe Sommer
• Uniqueness,  Diversity

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The truest test of modesty comes not from praise but from criticism and blame 

• To test a modest man’s modesty do not investigate if he ignores applause, find out if he abides criticism. Franz Grillparzer
• When one remains modest, not after praise but after blame, then is he really so. Jean Paul Richter
• Criticism,  Blaming

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Modesty is easiest when you’re already somebody 

• It is easy for a somebody to be modest, but it is difficult to be modest when one is a nobody. Jules Renard

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To stay modest, think of your talents and contributions as gifts from heaven 

• Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others. Robert Schumann
• Talent,  Contribution

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• A modest man is usually admired if people ever hear of him. Edgar Watson Howe
• Always try to be modest and be VERY proud of it!
• At least I have the modesty to admit that lack of modesty is one of my failings. Louis-Hector Berlioz
• He is a modest little man who has a good deal to be modest about. Winston Churchill
• He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whistle. Aneurin Bevan
• I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty but I am too busy thinking about myself.   Edith Sitwell
• Modesty is my best quality. Jack Benny
• Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise. Lord Chesterfield
• Modesty: The art of encouraging people to find out for themselves how wonderful you are.
• Modesty: Being comfortable that others will soon discover your greatness.
• Modesty: The gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it. Edgar Watson Howe
• Some are blessed with musical ability, others with good looks. Myself, I was blessed with modesty. Roger Moore
• The English instinctively admire any man who has no talent and is modest about it. James Agee

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