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Summa Theologiae · II-II, q. 161

Question 161. Of Humility

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Second Part of the Second Part. 6 articles.

Read in the reading room → This question at New Advent

Text: Summa Theologiae, Project Gutenberg #18755, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa in the English Dominican translation (first printed 1911 to 1925; second and revised edition from 1920). A sample check on 2026-11-09 against pre-1931 printings at the Internet Archive (first printings of 1915 and 1916 and the second and revised edition of the 1920s) found that the article text matches, with no 1947 introduction, synopsis, or index. Question and article numbers were added by the transcriber. Rights: Public domain (US)

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We must consider next the species of modesty: (1) Humility, and pride which is opposed to it; (2) Studiousness, and its opposite, Curiosity; (3) Modesty as affecting words or deeds; (4) Modesty as affecting outward attire.

Concerning humility there are six points of inquiry:

(1) Whether humility is a virtue?

(2) Whether it resides in the appetite, or in the judgment of reason?

(3) Whether by humility one ought to subject oneself to all men?

(4) Whether it is a part of modesty or temperance?

(5) Of its comparison with the other virtues;

(6) Of the degrees of humility.

Articles

  1. Whether Humility Is a Virtue?
  2. Whether Humility Has to Do with the Appetite?
  3. Whether One Ought, by Humility, to Subject Oneself to All Men?
  4. Whether Humility Is a Part of Modesty or Temperance?
  5. Whether Humility Is the Greatest of the Virtues?
  6. Whether Twelve Degrees of Humility Are Fittingly Distinguished in the Rule of the Blessed Benedict?

Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part. Project Gutenberg #18755. Project Gutenberg record. Public domain in the USA. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Project Gutenberg notices retained. The full Project Gutenberg license is kept in the hosted text.