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Virtue and Vice
503. Modesty
"It may, indeed, be no less dangerous to claim, on certain
occasions, too little than too much. There is something
captivating in spirit and intrepidity, to which we often yield,
as to a resistless power; nor can he reasonably expect the
confidence of others who too apparently distrusts himself."
Johnson: Rambler #1 (March 20, 1750)
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637. Modesty
"Those who attempt nothing themselves think every thing easily
performed, and consider the unsuccessful always as criminal."
Johnson: Idler #1 (April 15, 1758)
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1,437. Conversation; Modesty
"The modest man is a companion of a yet lower rank, whose
only power of giving pleasure is not to interrupt it. The modest
man satisfies himself with peaceful silence, which all his
companions are candid enough to consider as proceeding not from
inability to speak, but willingness to hear."
Johnson: Rambler #188 (January 4, 1752)
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