Just as a person cannot lift himself up, so too he cannot praise himself. On the contrary, every attempt a person makes to praise himself lowers him in the eyes of others.
Do not praise or criticize yourself in front of other people. If you praise yourself, you will not be believed, and if you criticize yourself, people will think even worse things about you than what you have said. And therefore it is best not to talk about yourself at all.
The one who calls himself humble is not humble. The one who says that he knows nothing is clever; the one who says that he is learned is a braggart. The one who remains silent is cleverer and better than all.
— Vamana Purana
Saadi the Persian tells how one time he was sitting next to his father and reading the Holy Quran all night without closing his eyes, while all the servants were fast asleep. “In the middle of the night,” Saadi says, “I lifted my eyes from the book and said to my father: ‘There is no one to pray and no one to listen to the holy book, everyone is sleeping like the dead.’ ‘And it’s better for you to go to sleep also,’ said my father, ‘instead of judging others.’”
The one who praises himself sees nothing but himself. It is better for him to be blind than to see only himself.
— Saadi
If you want others to say good things about you, say nothing good about yourself.
— Pascal
Thought and its expression—the word—is serious business. It is not good to play with thoughts and words to justify your deeds.
The one who listens to what others are saying about him will never be at peace.
A flatterer flatters only because he holds a low opinion of both himself and others.
— La Bruyere
If you want a good reputation, or at least one that is not bad, not only should you abstain from praising yourself, but you should also not allow others to praise you.
