Humility is the foundation to a virtuous life

Humility doesn’t get the fanfare of virtues like courage, compassion or generosity. But without humility, those other virtues won’t get much traction in the quest to live a good life.

By: Jen Cole Wright, College of Charleston, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: September 19, 2026

Words: 1,140

Last Updated: 4 weeks, 1 day ago

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By Jen Cole Wright, College of Charleston

The default psychological setting for human beings is an unavoidable self-centeredness. We each stand at the center of our own thoughts, feelings and needs, and thus experience them in a way that we cannot experience the thoughts, feelings and needs of others.

As writer David Foster Wallace put it in a 2005 commencement address:

“ … Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that …

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