"False modesty" refers to the act of pretending to be humble or downplaying one's abilities or achievements, even when they are confident in their abilities. It is when someone intentionally downplays themselves to appear more humble or to seek praise from others.
Full definition
• Jesus is not the victim
of false modesty when he commands the people to be silent over the miracles he has wrought (Mk 7, 36).
He speaks like a practicing artist who sees himself
without false modesty as being as important to our generation as was Caravaggio in his own tumultuous day.
Don't bother
with false modesty or self - deprecation; be straightforward about what you've achieved and what you hope to do next.
And the opposite angle, «humblebragging» —
using false modesty to raise your profile — only makes people roll their eyes, according to Harvard Business School research.
The Many — who
eschew false modesty — talk about how they're the backbone of Britain, getting up, going to work, looking after their children, driving forklift trucks, etc. «We might not be a bunch of fancy bankers driving the economy into a ditch,» they sniff, «but we keep this country running!»
«It sounds
like false modesty, but taking on the part of Jackie Kennedy is such a big undertaking,» Gerwig explains.
I'm not saying this out
of false modesty but to make the point that I am not the yardstick by which righteousness is judged.
«I'm not very comfortable talking about myself sometimes,» he says, with appealing humility that stops just the right distance short of
false modesty.
While it may seem like «
false modesty» in some cases to call one's success «luck», I think it is a very effective way to deflect.
Whether it's
false modesty or he truly believes it's inconsequential, he wasn't buying that.
Filled with what John Milbank arrestingly and accurately calls «
false modesty,» otherwise orthodox theologians adjust to the prevailing secular reason.
Some «cautious» philosophers, indulging in a species of
false modesty, have attempted its definition.»
@Godpot: I know God approves, because He approves of honesty and disapproves of
false modesty.
Not because of
any false modesty in the fat department, just because that's what the recipes asked of me.
And he never wasted time with self - deprecation or
false modesty.
As Teachout puts it, with a hint of
false modesty, «They're spending $ 3.3 million against little ol' me.»
But there's something pandering about all
this false modesty.
You are free of the vice of
false modesty, as you have it, flaunt it, and make no bones about it.You prefer your home space to be an inviolate nest of comfort, as place to recharge from the stresses of the day.
Referring to 10 Items or Less as a «little independent thing,» of course, would be
false modesty, given the roster of talent involved.
Meanwhile, Wuhl dominates with his idiot observations and
false modesty; a moment where he observes that he isn't very good in the picture and spends altogether too much time mugging for the camera isn't self - effacing so much as accurate and sad, particularly when Wuhl does a bad Sean Connery impersonation while relating some anecdote about the Scottish institution and his alarming lack of insight into the financial failure of the film.
There's
no false modesty, as Allen would say: he's genuinely starstruck by Newman.
In view of these assets, the projected production of 3,000 units per year may be a crass example of
false modesty.
False modesty is as bad as false pride.
Who knows if they're afraid to share their secret sauce, if they're looking to add some mystery & glamour (and a following), or if they've simply succumbed to
false modesty?
The typical value investor says — he is full of
false modesty — he says «I don't know nothing about macroeconomics; it doesn't interest me.
Paddy pointed out that the dots begin to look like clothing in an expression of «
false modesty.»
The change of mind piece is an exercise in
false modesty.
In a manner free of any taboos or
false modesty, she deals with the most unpleasant aspects of racism and violence in American history.
But the lamentation of vanity can be
false modesty.
In short, with
all false modesty aside, I have personally seen, from the inner sanctum, what works and what does not work with co-parenting children through a divorce.