Humility is the luxurious art of reducing ourselves to a point, not to a small thing or a large one, but to a thing with no size at all, so that to it all the cosmic things are what they really are - of immeasurable stature. That the trees are high and the grasses short is a mere accident of our own foot-rules and our own stature. But to the spirit which has stripped off for a moment its own idle temporal standards the grass is an everlasting forest, with dragons for denizens; the stones of the road are as incredible mountains piled one upon the other; the dandelions are like gigantic bonfires illuminating the lands around; and the heath-bells on their stalks are like planets hung in heaven each higher than the other.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Humility shrinks the self so the world appears vast and meaningful again, transforming ordinary things into wonders.
- In plain terms
- Being small inside makes the world feel big and amazing.
- What can you take from it?
- Use humility to rediscover wonder.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When did you last feel awe?
- How does size affect meaning?
Another view
Extreme self-reduction can lead to loss of agency or self-worth.
More from Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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