"All this anger and irritation against one's self fosters pride, and springs entirely from self-love, which is disturbed and fretter by its own imperfections. What we want is a quiet steady, firm displeasure at our own faults." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, Inc., 2002. [...]
"I began to fear more the terrible danger of pride if I did well than the disgrace if I did badly. There I was at a crossroad between fear and charity, not knowing which way was safe to take. If I spoke to any profit about humility I feared to be found lacking in it; [...]
"Thus the true cause of the blessedness of the good angels is foundÿto be this, that they cleave to Him who supremely is. And if we ask the cause of the misery of the bad, it occurs to us, and not unreasonably, that they are miserable because they have forsaken Him who supremely is, and [...]
"The proud man who trusts in himself may well undertake nothing, but the humble man is all the braver that he knows his own helplessness, and his courage waxes in proportion to his low opinion of himself, because all his trust is in God, Who delights to show forth His Power in our weakness, His [...]
"Very often demons manage to persuade us either to omit confession, or else to confess as though the sins were committed by someone else or else to blame others as responsible for our own sins." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"Pride makes us forget our sins, for the remembrance of them leads to humility." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"To reject criticism is to show pride, while to accept it is to show oneself free of this fetter." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"A help to the proud is submissiveness, a tougher and humbler mode of life, and the reading of the supernatural feats of the Fathers." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"The monk who observes others instead of attending to himself will begin before long to see some as his superiors and others as his inferiors; in some he will see things to envy, in others, things to despise. The eyes have wandered and the mind soon follows." Source: St. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Steps [...]
"The Lord often humbles the vainglorious by causing some dishonor to befall them. And indeed the first step in overcoming vainglory is to remain silent and to accept dishonor gladly. The middle stage is to check every act of vainglory while it is still in thought. The end – insofar as one may talk of [...]