10 Stories About Humility That Will Make You More Modest

Team Lifelords | Posted on August 20, 2023 | No Comments |

Last Updated on June 13, 2024 by Team Lifelords

Wonderful Stories About Modesty That Show Why We Should Possess Humility

Best Stories About Modesty To Make You Humble: Humility is one of the piquant characteristics one should possess throughout life. Those who lack this precious trait often find themselves in tight corners. It is not good to disrespect people because you think you are better than that person.

1. The Nun And Miracle: A Short Story About Humility

There was a wise, devout man who is called, in the Catholic Church, St. Philip Neri. Many anecdotes touching his discernment and benevolence are told at Naples and Rome. In a convent not far from Rome, a nun appeared among the nuns, who claimed to have certain rare gifts of inspiration and prophecy.

The abbess advised the Holy Father, at Rome, of the wonderful powers shown by her novice. The Pope did not know quite what to make of these new claims. One day when Philip returned from a journey, he consulted him. Philip undertook to visit the nun and ascertain her character.

He threw himself on his mule, all travel–soiled as he was, and hastened through the mud and mire to the distant convent. He told the abbess the wishes of his Holiness and begged her to summon the nun without delay.

The nun was sent for, and, as soon as she came into the apartment, Philip stretched out his leg all bespattered with mud, and desired her to draw off his boots. The young nun, who had become the object of much attention and respect, drew back with anger and refused the office.

Philip ran out of doors, mounted his mule, and returned instantly to the Pope. When questioned by the Pope Philip said, “Give yourself no uneasiness, Holy Father, any longer: here is no miracle, for here is no humility.”

Source: The Conduct of Life by R.W. Emerson

2. The Voice of Happiness: A Story About Modesty

After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master’s temple told a friend: ‘Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person’s face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily, when I hear someone congratulate another on his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy.

When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.

‘In all my experience, however, Bankei’s voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard.’

Real-Life Stories About The Humility of Truly Great People

3. Great People Are Always Humble: A Story About Humility

My professor once told me an anecdote about his encounter with Prof. Stephen H. Crandall, the late mechanical engineering professor at MIT. He was a pioneer in random vibrations & rotor dynamics and the recipient of the prestigious Timoshenko Medal. My professor happened to give a talk at the Computational Mechanics conference at MIT.

That is when he met Prof. Stephen. Inspired by my professor’s lecture and research work, Prof. Stephen, who was in his 70s at that time, invited him to his personal cabin to discuss some of his own findings.

Stuffed with research papers and books all over the place, this cabin was nothing short of a huge library. After conversing about some ideas and recent engineering trends, Stephen started explaining his own research observations and experiments.

At one point, he thought of giving a copy of one of his publications to my professor. But much to his dismay, he couldn’t find it in the huge pile of his engineering masterpieces. Nonetheless, Stephen promised that he would give him a call as soon as he found this research paper.

Bidding adieu to the great Stephen, my professor then left his cabin and started walking down the streets of MIT. After a couple of minutes, he heard his name being called from behind. He first thought that he might have misheard it.

However, after hearing it over and over again, he finally turned, and much to his amazement, he saw the desperate and aged Stephen literally running behind him with the very research paper in his hand! This was simply extraordinary.

I wondered if Stephen could have simply called or e-mailed my professor or could have asked his secretary to deliver the research paper to him. His sheer humility made him descend the stairs of his building and hand over the publication to my professor in person.

Courtesy: Aditya Vipradas

4. A Scientist And A Student: A Story About Modesty

Have you ever met a famous person who was remarkably humble? If not, then today we will tell you about one such story. Several years ago I was working with a young woman who was a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

She said she was taking a freshman chemistry class and was struggling one night in the lab to complete an assignment, but nothing was working right for her. This was about 11 pm and she was getting frustrated.

Apparently, a passerby heard her cuss at the equipment and stuck his head in. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Still frustrated, my friend Libby said, “Do you know anything about chemistry?”

“A little,” he said, and for the next half hour or so he helped her get the equipment put together correctly and coached her on how to record the results.

Then another passerby stuck his head in and said, “Dr. Cech! Congratulations on your Nobel Prize!”

Libby looked at her helper and recognized him as Tom Cech, who that morning had been announced as the latest winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

“You know ‘a little’ about chemistry?” she said, astonished.

He blushed, said “Yeah, I guess so,” and helped her clean up the lab.

Courtesy: Mark Thomas

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5. Great Power With Great Humility: A Story on Modesty

Indeed this story is an inspiring example of humility. Sam Rayburn served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress for seventeen years. As the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn wielded incredible power and prestige.

He was third in the line of succession to the presidency. One day, he found out that the teenage daughter of a reporter friend had tragically died. Early the next morning, Sam Rayburn knocked on the door of his friend.

When the door opened, Rayburn asked if there was anything he could do. His friend stammered and replied, “I don’t think there is anything you can do. We are making all the arrangements.”

“Well, have you had your coffee this morning?” Rayburn asked.

“No. We haven’t had time.” said the grieving man.

“Well,” the Speaker of the House replied, “I can at least make the coffee.”

As he watched this powerful man make him coffee, the father suddenly remembered something. “Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning.”

“Well I was, but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble, and I couldn’t come.”

Sam Rayburn turned down breakfast with the President of the United States to make coffee for a grieving friend. Great Humility can be exercised by people of great power.

6. A Story That Shows How Humility Can Change Life

The late, California Judge, Jess Nathan was a volunteer at the VA Hospital where some patients were teetering right on the brink. He took an immediate interest and through his kindness and wisdom taught them how to live again.

Jess had been a law clerk at the Nuremberg war crimes trials and became involved in hunting down Nazi war criminals. While traveling in Poland after the war, he met and married his sweetheart and brought her back to the United States.

The judge donated his law book collection to the VA Hospital, finally retired in 1980, and moved to North Carolina. Where he died in 1983 and not a day goes by that I don’t bless his memory for all the good things he had done for humanity.

I later found out from his family that Jess had a bad heart but never stopped in his tireless efforts to make the world a better place.

Humility is a positive emotion and it’s the opposite of some negative feelings like aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, “Me first,” humility allows us to say, “No, you first, my friend.” As these beautiful stories about humility show us modesty may help us in many ways.

We hope you liked these stories about modesty. To read more stories on humility and modesty have a look at Best Short Stories for Adults. Please share these inspiring stories with your friends and followers on your favorite social media platform.

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