The entry in the Topical Guide.

See also Contrite Heart ; Meek ; Poor in Spirit ; Submissiveness ; Teachable

My Favorite Scriptures

• Matthew 18:3-4
  • “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
• Mosiah 3:19
  • “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”
• Alma 5:27-28
  • “Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.”
• Ether 12:27
  • “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
• Moses 1:9-11
  • “And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed. But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him.”

Teachings of the Prophets

• Ezra Taft Benson
  • Beware of Pride, April 1989 General Conference
    • “Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby.”
    • “The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.”
    • “Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of my will and not thine be done.”
    • “The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.”
    • “The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.”
    • “The proud stand more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment. “What will men think of me?” weighs heavier than “What will God think of me?”
    • “Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position.”
    • “The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success. They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough. Pride is ugly.”
    • “Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught. They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong.”
    • “The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. It is the broken heart and contrite spirit.”
    • “God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble. Alma said, “Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.” Let us choose to be humble.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God.”
    • “We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives.”
    • “Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can.”

Teachings of the Apostles

• Dieter F. Uchtdorf
  • Pride and the Priesthood, October 2010 General Conference
    • “I believe there is a difference between being proud of certain things and being prideful. I am proud of many things. I am proud of my wife. I am proud of our children and grandchildren.”
    • “Pride is sinful, as President Benson so memorably taught, because it breeds hatred or hostility and places us in opposition to God and our fellowmen. At its core, pride is a sin of comparison, for though it usually begins with “Look how wonderful I am and what great things I have done,” it always seems to end with “Therefore, I am better than you.”
    • “When our hearts are filled with pride, we commit a grave sin, for we violate the two great commandments. Instead of worshipping God and loving our neighbor, we reveal the real object of our worship and love—the image we see in the mirror.”
    • “Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In fact, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride.”
    • “As priesthood bearers, we must realize that all of God’s children wear the same jersey. Our team is the brotherhood of man. This mortal life is our playing field. Our goal is to learn to love God and to extend that same love toward our fellowman. We are here to live according to His law and establish the kingdom of God. We are here to build, uplift, treat fairly, and encourage all of Heavenly Father’s children.”
    • “Pride is a switch that turns off priesthood power. Humility is a switch that turns it on.”
    • “When we see the world around us through the lens of the pure love of Christ, we begin to understand humility.”
    • “We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves.”
    • “When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work.”
• Marvin J. Ashton
  • Spencer W. Kimball: A True Disciple of Christ, April 1985 General Conference
    • “We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ have a prophet who has shown us by his daily living the formula for success. By sharing with you tonight some personal experiences I have had with President Kimball, I hope I can encourage all of us to look to his life for inspiration as we set our goals.”
    • “Has our prophet taught us anything through his prayers? Very often the Twelve and the First Presidency pray together. When President Kimball takes his turn to be voice, he generally includes this phrase in his prayers: “Bless our enemies. Help us to understand them, and them to understand us.” He doesn’t ask for vengeance or retaliation, just for understanding so differences can be resolved. Perhaps family differences and neighborhood problems could be resolved if we would follow our prophet’s example and pray for patience and forgiveness.”
    • “I share these personal experiences to illustrate lessons I have learned from a disciple of Christ. I only do so to encourage myself and you, particularly the Aaronic Priesthood members, to select the traits I have illustrated and incorporate them into our lives. We should list our goals and then work on them consistently, until little by little they become part of us.”
• Charles A. Callis
  • An Humble and Contrite Heart, April 1942 General Conference
    • “I interpret humility as being strength. Humility expresses itself in lowly service, in volunteering for any service which will ameliorate the conditions, particularly the spiritual conditions of mankind. Humility does not mean to grovel, to be a sycophant. Humility is inward strength outwardly expressed in good works. Great souls attain to humility.”
    • “That is the spirit that should characterize the holy Priesthood. If we work in humility, become little in our own sight, more than we are now, and seek the good of others I testify to you that there will be added power to our labors, and sinners will be brought unto Him.”

Other Leaders in the Church

• Richard C. Edgley
  • The Empowerment of Humility, October 2003 General Conference
    • “On the occasions that I am able to attend sacrament meeting in my own ward, I am often reflective as I look down in the congregation and see the same faces Sunday after Sunday. Some I have seen regularly in sacrament meeting for more than 20 years. Again, most are not in the limelight of the Church, but all consistently attend their meetings and privately meet life’s challenges.”
    • “As I have pondered these faithful members, I am struck by two qualities they all seem to have. First, regardless of social or economic status or position, their humility leads to submissiveness to the Lord’s will. And second, in spite of the difficulties and trials of life, they are able to maintain a sense of gratitude for God’s blessings and life’s goodness. Humility and gratitude are truly the twin characteristics of happiness.”
• Marlin K. Jensen
  • “To Walk Humbly With Thy God,” April 2001 General Conference
    • “To begin, it should come as no surprise that, in the estimation of some, humility ranks quite low on the scale of desirable character traits. Popular books have been written in recent years on integrity, common sense, civility, and a host of other virtues, but apparently there is little market for humility. Obviously, in these coarsening times when we are taught the art of negotiating by intimidation, and assertiveness has become a byword of the business world, those seeking to become humble will be a small and overlooked but critically important minority.”
    • “Contemplate the advantages of life in a society in which considerations of status were only secondary, where citizens were more concerned with their responsibilities than their rights, and where those in authority might even occasionally step forward and humbly acknowledge, “I could be wrong.” Must our need to be “right” be so all-consuming? Surely this intolerance of others and their viewpoints is nothing less than the hubris the Greeks viewed and warned against as the suicidal sin. One wonders how differently even recent world history might be written if its principal participants had yielded to the gentle nudgings of humility.”
• Keith Crockett
  • Retaining a Remission of Sin, October 2000 General Conference
    • “May we each develop our humility by submitting to the will of the Lord in all things so that we may retain a remission of our sins.”
    • “I testify that those who call upon the Lord daily will have greater power to retain a remission of their sins.”
• Franklin D. Richards
  • Justice, Mercy, and Humility, April 1970 General Conference
    • “The Golden Rule is in reality the basic principle of dealing justly with your fellowmen. To do justly becomes a matter of attitude, a desire to go beyond tolerating others and making an effort to love and appreciate people by serving them. Justice is deeply affected by the principle of love.”
    • “Many times true mercy incorporates forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness, to be effective, require great patience and understanding on the part of the one forgiving.”
    • “To walk humbly with God, one must love God, be humble, meek, and obedient. Another important ingredient is to hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
    • “By walking humbly with God, by identifying himself with the building of the kingdom, one obtains inner strength and peace from his Heavenly Father, is happy and successful, and enjoys personal growth and development.”
• Eldred G. Smith
  • Humility Builds Faith, April 1955 General Conference
    • “Humility is one of the qualities that help build faith. Would a missionary be successful if he were not humble? He has to be teachable with a receptive mind before he can teach others, and to be teachable, he must be humble. And we should all be missionaries.”
    • “All the requirements of living the gospel become easier through humility.”