Any top-level athlete, it’s always the same. There’s always that hint of arrogance there… It’s hard to be humble when you’re the best.

Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

I didn’t want to be a writer, but I became one. And now I have many readers, in many countries. I think that’s a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I’m proud of it and I enjoy it, and it is strange to say it this way, but I respect it.

I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.

I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.

I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by my friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman’s dance.

I wouldn’t say that I am one of the greatest dancers, but I am really quite good at what I do.

I do not see myself as a celebrity or an icon or things like that… I have not really done anything.

He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.

As long as I stay in training and play well, I don’t see what objection there can be to what I do off the field.

People should not make me out to be like Jesus; I don’t walk on water.

I believe God wants you to have money to pay your bills, send your kids to college and do charity work and build orphanages. There’s the teaching that we’re supposed to be poor to show that we’re humble. I don’t buy that. I think we’re supposed to be leaders. We’re supposed to excel.

The only thing wrong with the NBA – or any other professional sport, for that matter – is a wild epidemic of Dumbness and overweening Greed. There is no Mystery about it, and no need to change any rules.

To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole. And for the U.S.A. won the medal of gold. The Greeks said, ‚You’re better than the Cassius of old.‘

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up.

In the game of cricket, a hero is a person who respects the game and does not corrupt the game. The one who doesn’t or corrupts the game, they are the villain. They should be punished, and they have been punished in the past.

There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

Being humble matters.

The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.

Fondly we think we honor merit then, When we but praise ourselves in other men.

A good boxing competition gives one the sight of fine men in their prime, trained to the ounce, showing the highest skill, pluck and endurance in carrying out their attack and defence under strict rules of fair play and good temper.

I always entertain the notion that I’m wrong, or that I’ll have to revise my opinion. Most of the time that feels good; sometimes it really hurts and is embarrassing.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

As a kid, even I knew everything about my favourite cricketers. I used to know everything possible. Now I see kids knowing about me. It feels good.

Anyone who wants to be pope doesn’t care much for themselves, God doesn’t bless them. I didn’t want to be pope.

Sadly, the truth is, there aren’t many people who can be put in high positions who won’t start thinking highly of themselves.

I’m not talent. Not considered ‚talent‘ by Lifetime. I’d like to say I’m their savior, but that would be cocky.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

I’ve never fought with anyone. A lot of people talk to me, and they’re like, ‚Oh, you would have been fighting all the time when you were younger,‘ but I’m like, ‚I never fought with anyone because I always knew that if I hurt myself, I might lose important time in my cricket career,‘ so I never got into any fight, ever in my life.

I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

I didn’t take many penalties, but I never missed one.

We all started playing football against our best friends, and I can’t remember a moment where, because it was my best friend, I did not want to win against him.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough in me to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.

It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

Humility may well be one of the most difficult of the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in us – and to maintain. That’s because without humility, it’s not likely that you will put your complete trust in God.

A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

I’m no genius.

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

I never say I am a guru.

The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.

I’m all for a good rivalry as long as lines are drawn.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

One thing I hope I’ll never be is drunk with my own power. And anybody who says I am will never work in this town again.

Just because I managed to do a little something, I don’t want anyone back home to think I got the big head.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

The thing about Jiu Jitsu is it is also not for everybody. It can be very humiliating and humbling. If you have a hard time dealing with the fact that someone smaller than you may be able to tap you out, it is going to be difficult.

Let us be absolutely clear about one thing: we must not confuse humility with false modesty or servility.

Endorsements are a reward for good performance on the field, and the commitments made after signing them need to be done.