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God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
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“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

James

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Source
King James Bible — James 4:6
Date
1611
English wording
King James Version translation committees · from Biblical Hebrew / Aramaic / Koine Greek
Meaning

Meaning of “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto…”

Pride is treated as a barrier while humility is presented as a posture open to correction, help, and grace.

Source context

Where does it come from?

James 4:6 in the King James Version.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

HumilityIntegrityShortWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellCharacterFaithPride
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I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility.
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“I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility.”

John Ruskin · Modern Painters, Volume III · 1856
Meaning & context

Ruskin defines greatness without self-worship: genuine ability can be recognized accurately while still being held inside a larger sense of proportion, dependence and responsibility.

Source details

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.

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There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.
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“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”

Leo Tolstoy · War and Peace · 1869
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
Meaning & context

Greatness is stripped of spectacle and measured instead by moral clarity, goodness, and freedom from unnecessary complication.

Source details

War and Peace; the narrator’s judgment of greatness appears in the novel’s discussion of Kutuzov, simplicity, goodness and truth.

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Simple, generous goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon.
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“Simple, generous goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon.”

Louisa May Alcott · Little Men · 1871
Voice: Fictional character · Friedrich Bhaer
Meaning & context

Good character is compared with capital because generosity and reliability can support a life more durably than reputation or money alone, especially when circumstances change.

Source details

Little Men; Alcott contrasts durable goodness with forms of success that can disappear, treating moral character as a lasting foundation for life’s work.

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Humility should not be an abasement; for it is never a virtue in man to lower himself.
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“Humility should not be an abasement; for it is never a virtue in man to lower himself.”

Paul Janet · Elements of Morals · 1884 English translation
Meaning & context

Janet sharply separates humility from self-degradation: accurate awareness of human weakness should coexist with dignity, so humility does not require pretending that one has no worth or abilities.

Source details

Elements of Morals, Chapter XIV, section 165, printed page 296, Caroline Rollin Corson’s 1884 English translation, Project Gutenberg #37016. Janet distinguishes humility from abasement: humility arises from recognition of human weakness, but lowering oneself is not itself a virtue. The passage belongs to nineteenth-century systematic moral philosophy rather than modern clinical self-esteem guidance.

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