The Desert Mothers and Fathers on Humility

Humility

What is humility? Humility is to look on oneself as dust and ashes. The humble says, "Who am I? And who considers me to be anything? Who am I to deal with people for I am powerless?" He does not say, "What" or "What is this?" but walks submissively in his ways, never deeming himself equal to others. And if he is despised and rejected he does not get angry.
Humility is to hold oneself as guilty and to find that one has done nothing good before God. It is to maintain silence, looking on oneself as nothing. It is to reject one's inclinations, to look down to the ground, bearing death before his eyes., safeguarding himself from lying. It consists in not speaking, falsehood or arguing with someone who is older than you are, enduring insults joyfully, detesting comfort and training oneself in hardship, never distressing anyone.
~ St. Abba Isaiah

Neither ascetism, nor vigils nor any kind of of suffering are able to save, only true humility can do that.
~ Amma Theodora 

By remembering one's falls and mistakes, waiting for an impending death, putting on a beggarly garment, retiring to a quiet spot and acquiring permanent silence. One should avoid crowds, striving to be unknown and unaccounted for. Abiding by himself, hating intimacy and meeting and mixing with people, loathing profits, and barring his mind from blaming or bringing down anyone. He should not have any interaction with anyone, but should be solitary. for all these bring forth humility. ~Saint Isaac

There was an anchorite who was able to banish the demons; and he asked them, "What makes you go away?" Is it fasting? They replied, "We do not eat or drink." "Is it vigils?" they replied, 'We do not sleep." "Is it separation from the world? "We live in the deserts." "What power sends you away then?" They said, "Nothing can overcome us, but only humility." "Do you see how humility is victorius over the demons?"
~ Amma Theodora

If pride is the worst sin because it has caused a heavenly host to tumble to the earth, humility is the greatest of all virtues, because it lifts man up to heaven from the depths.
~Saint John el-Daragi

As the earth does not fall because it is under, he who humbles himself does not fall. ~Saint Abba Pimen

Entrench yourself in these traits I mention to you. Solace, submissiveness, and silence, for they all bring forth humility, which absolves all sins. ~Saint Abba Isaiah

Gifts are not granted for the good works in and of themselves, but for the humility with which thosw works were performed. ~Mar Isaac, Bishop of Nineveh

Humility protects the soul from all the passions and also from every temptation.  ~ Dorotheos

Behold, man, what God has become for your sake! Keep in your heart a lesson from this great humility imparted by a speechless infant.

Human pride brought you down so that divine humility alone can lift you up. ~Saint Augustine

God defends and saves  the humble, He is kind to the humble man and He loves and comforts him. He bestows His great blessings on the humble person and lifts him up to to glory after submissiveness. He reveals His secrets to the humble. ~Saint Toma el-Kambisi

When, each day, you rise from your bed, remember that you will give an accounting to God for your every deed, for your every word, as well as for your every thought. Thus, you will not sin before God; rather, fear of Him will dwell with you. ~ Abba Isaias.

It would have been preferable if that person recognized your good will and felt ashamed of your humility, asking for your  forgiveness. Therefore, as a disciple of the meek and humble one should pay the toll and move on peaceably.
~Abba Zosimas

Whenever you want to subdue your high and proud thoughts, examine your conscience carefully: Have you kept all the commandments? Have you loved your enemies and been kind to them in their misfortunes?
~Abba Or

Those who seek humility should bear in mind the three following things: that they are the worst of sinners, that they are the most despicable of all creatures since their state is an unnatural one and that they are more pitiable than the demons, since they are slaves to the demons. you will also profit if you say this to yourself: how do I know what or how many other people's sins are or whether they are greater or equal to my own ? In our ignorsnce you and I, my soul are worse than all men, we are dust and ashes under their feet. How can I not regard myself as more despicable than all other creatures, for they act in accordance with the nature they have been given, while I, owing to my innumerable sins, am in a state contrary to nature.  ~Saint Gregory of Sinai

Always here, He is waiting,

Unchanging, God is.

Chastising and loving into holiness, God is.

Transforming, God is.

All goodness. God is. 

All goodness within, God is.

My Lover, God is.

Crying out to be heard, Our Lord.

God is.

~ Abiah+

The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them. 
~ St. Macarius the Great

Internal work is a headache that brings forth purity, and purity generates a lull of the heart that brings forth humility. by humility man becomes a dwelling place for the lord.
~Saint Barsanuphius

Humility protects the soul from all the passions and also from every temptation. ~Dorotheos

Courage stands in the middle between cowardice and foolhardiness; humility in the middle between arrogance and severity. Modesty is a mean bewtween timidity and boldness. ~Dorotheos

Humility of soul helps more than everything esle; without it no one can overcome lewdness or any other sin. ~Cassian

If Satan fell from heaven by pride alone, humility alone lifts man to heaven. ~Saint John el-Daragi

The humbleness of the heart comes ahead of all virtues.
Let us hold fast to humility in every manner and every work.
~Black Moses

Wail to those who would not humble themselves willingly as the children, for the low gates of heaven will not be accessible to them. Wail also to the rich who say that their comfort is here and now, for when the poor enter the kingdom of heaven they will be standing outside lamenting. Rejoicing all you humble and be glad all you poor for the kingdom of heaven will be yours if you conduct yourselves in righteousness.
~Saint Toma el-Kambisi

The humbleness of the heart comes ahead of all virtues. ~ Saint Moses the Black

He who has mastered humility has mastered all virtues.  ~Saint Maximos

Humility has saved many without sweat. The toil of man without humility is void. Humility purifies every adversary thought. ~Saint John el-Daragi

Let it be known to you that if in your life you have mastered every virtue and every good deed such as mercy, prayer, fast, and other virtues but have no humility in you, your toil will be in vain. For humility in all these virtues is the solid foundation. Without it, we cannot master any of the virtues and all these virtues will become impure, filthy, and discarded before God because they were not sown with humility and love.
~Saint John the Golden Mouth

The chief weapon for virtue is humility and the greatest hindrance to it is pride. The foul smoke of selt-esteem and the stench of boasting drives away the grace of the Spirit... strips man of all his virtue and cast him into the pit of Hades and through the repentance and contrite prayer of the Publican, that humility confers upon the sinner forgiveness of all his wicked deeds and raises him up to greater heights.

God befriends the naive and reveals Himself to the humble.  ~Saint Toma el-kambisi

What is perfection? -it is the depth of humility. And what is humility? It is abandonning one's likings and acquiring tranquility. ~ Saint Isaac

May  fear, humility, lack of food and Godly sorrow be with you. ~Eurpresepius (benediction)

The tree of life is tall. Ony humility can climb it. Be like the tax collector if you do not want to be condemned with the Pharisee. Follow  gentle Moses and chip out the rockyplaces of your heart that they may become springs of water.
~ Abba Hyperichius

I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and i said groaning, "What can get through such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humiity."
~Saint Anthony the Great.

Without humility some angels became devils, and with humility some devilish people became angels.
~ Saint John el-Daragi

Humility is the home of divinity; God will abide in it wherever it is!
~Mar Yacoub el-Serougi

I think that for those living in community obedience is a greater virtue than chastity, however perfect. Chastity carries within it the danger of pride, but obedience has within it the promise of humility. ~ Amma Syncletia

After praying that God would take away his passions that he might become free from care, Abba John the Dwarf went and told an old man; 'I find myself in peace, without an enemy,' he said. The old man said to him, 'Go beseech God to stir up warfare so that you may regain the affliction and humility that you used to have, for it is by warfare that the soul makes progress.' So he sought God and when warfare came, he no longer prayed that it might be taken away, but said 'Lord, give me the strength for the fight.' ~ Abba Poeman

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Thus, when a young brother asked him to recommend whether to live as a solitary or to stay in the monastery, Abba Joseph of Panephysis replied that whichever state brought him peace was to be preferred, and that if he could not decide even then, it should be based on whichever enabled him to make spiritual progress.

 The Desert Fathers on Solitude http://benedictinesofheartsonghermitage.org/custom4.html 

Sayings of the Desert Fathers
http://www.balamandmonastery.org.lb/fathers/indexdesert.htm

Paradise of Desert Fathers
http://www.coptic.net/articles/ParadiseOfDesertFathers.txt