If we think, “Let me be humble so others can see how humble I am,” we should know that we are experiencing false humility. It’s simple to understand. If we were truly humble, we wouldn’t care whether someone saw us being humble or not. We would simply always be thinking of accepting everything as the Lord’s mercy because we would have firm faith that the Lord knows everything about us. We would not feel the need to prove anything—including our humility—to anyone.
(SB 3.29.9, Dnepropetrovsk, June 1996)