Ego quotes

Paradise Lost (1667), Book I, line 263; Satan says he would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. This collection retains normalized modern orthography; the first-edition transcription has ‘then’ and ‘Heav’n.’ This is dramatic character speech, not Milton’s direct endorsement.

Poor Richard’s Almanack.

Orthodoxy, Chapter VII, “The Eternal Revolution,” Project Gutenberg #130. “Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly” appears inside Chesterton’s explicitly Christian paradox contrasting levity, pride, humility and self-forgetfulness. It remains apologetic and metaphorical religious prose rather than a literal scientific claim about angels, gravity or psychology.

Pudd’nhead Wilson, Chapter V epigraph, introduced as a remark concerning upstarts in the Calendar sequence.

Modern Painters, Volume III, Part IV, Chapter XVI, “Of Modern Landscape,” section 24, printed page 260, Project Gutenberg #38923. Ruskin calls humility the first test of a truly great man, then immediately distinguishes humility from doubting one’s real power or hesitating about one’s opinions; his point is proportion, not self-denial. This is Victorian art criticism and moral reflection, not modern clinical or psychological evidence about humility.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Act I; Jack Worthing. Exact catalog wording is preserved in the scan-backed Samuel French acting text on Wikisource, scan leaf 26 / printed page 24.

Proverbs 11:2 in the King James Version.

“The Greatest Thing in the World,” in The Greatest Thing in the World and Other Addresses, Project Gutenberg #16739. Drummond explicitly places Humility among the “ingredients” of Christian love and glosses it as love that does not vaunt itself.

Proverbs 16:18 in the King James Version; the proverb warns that pride and haughtiness can precede destruction or a fall.

The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter X, “Of gratitude for the Grace of God,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The sentence appears in the third paragraph, distinguishing thanks for grace from confession of one’s own fault within the work’s Christian theology of grace and humility.

Mary Crawford makes the remark while discussing motives and conduct in company.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Part II, Humility discussion near the close of the Passy 1784 continuation. Franklin reflects that pride survives attempts to suppress it and can attach itself even to apparent humility; the reviewed direct locator is Wikisource Section Thirty Nine.

Character, Chapter IX, “Manner—Art,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles places the sentence in his discussion of politeness as respect for the personality and circumstances of others, then describes the well-mannered person as modest, unpretentious and more interested in doing than boasting.

The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal, C. Kegan Paul translation, Project Gutenberg #46921. The next sentence extends the paradox by observing how difficult it is to speak humbly about humility.

Matthew 23:12 in the King James Version.

The Innocents Abroad (1869), Chapter XXIII. Twain jokes that the gentle reader will not know what a consummate ass he can become until going abroad while satirizing travelers who adopt foreign affectations. Verified against the scan-backed 1869 first edition; the line remains comic first-person travel narration, not a literal rule about every traveler.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III, discussion of self-examination and the impartial spectator; Smith is describing the difficulty of judging one’s own conduct fairly.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890 Lippincott magazine text, Chapter 1; Lord Henry gives the reputation paradox while discussing Basil Hallward’s portrait.

The Diary of a Nobody, “Introduction by Mr. Pooter”; Project Gutenberg #1026. Charles Pooter asks why his diary should not be published even though he is not a “Somebody,” establishing the novel’s fictional self-important diarist before Chapter I begins. This is Pooter’s comic narrative voice, not autobiographical testimony by George or Weedon Grossmith.

Pudd’nhead Wilson, Chapter XI epigraph; Twain presents the three-part compliment as a Calendar maxim about authors.