De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
The First Step of Truth
The Prophet, humbled by God's truth, stands on the first step and weighs his own wretchedness against the universal human condition.
Humbled, then, the Prophet takes his stand on this first step of truth. As he says in another Psalm: "And in your truth you humbled me." Let him look hard at himself, and from his own wretched condition weigh the human condition in general, and so, moving on to the second step, let him say in his ecstatic vision: "Every man is a liar."✦
The Ecstatic Vision of Self-Judgment
The Prophet, going beyond himself in ecstatic vision, clings to truth and judges himself honestly.
In what ecstatic vision? Surely in that vision in which, going beyond himself and clinging to truth, he passes judgment on himself.
Every Man Is Weak
From the height of contemplation, the Prophet pronounces with pity — not indignation — that every man is weak and powerless to save.
In that vision, then, let him say — not in indignation or in insult, but in pity and in sympathy: every man is weak, every man is wretched and powerless, who can save neither himself nor another.
The Horse That Deceives
Just as the horse is called deceptive for salvation, so every man is called a liar — fragile and changeable — and whoever places hope in man is cursed.
Just as the horse is called "deceptive for salvation" — not because the horse deceives anyone, but because the one who trusts in its strength deceives himself — so every man is called a liar, that is, fragile and changeable, from whom salvation cannot be hoped for, whether one's own or another's; indeed, the one who places his hope in man brings a curse on himself.✦
The Prophet's Lament: Every Man a Liar
Advancing in humility and guided by truth, the Prophet adds grief to knowledge and declares in full truth: every man is a liar.
Moving forward, then, the humble Prophet, guided by truth — seeing in others what he mourned in himself — as he adds knowledge, let him also add grief, and let him say, not merely in general but in truth: "Every man is a liar."✦
Read the original Latin
Humiliatus ergo Propheta in hoc primo gradu veritatis, ut ait in alio Psalmo: Et in veritate tua humiliasti me, semetipsum attendat, et ex propria misera generalem perpendat, sicque ad secundum transiens, dicat in excessu suo: Omnis homo mendax. In quo excessu suo? In illo, procul dubio, quo sese excedens ac veritati adhaerens, seipsum diiudicat. In illo ergo excessu suo dicat, non indignando aut insultando, sed miserando et compatiendo: omnis homo infirmus, omnis homo miser et impotens, qui nec se, nec alium possit salvare. Sicut dicitur fallax equus ad salutem, non quod equus aliquem fallat, sed quia is seipsum fallit, qui in fortitudine eius confidit, sic omnis homo dicitur mendax, id est fragilis, mutabilis, a quo salus non possit vel sua, vel aliena sperari, quin potius maledictionem incurrat, qui spem sum in homine ponit. Proficiens itaque humilis Propheta per ducatum veritatis, quodque in se lugebat videns in aliis, dum apponit scientiam, apponat et dolorem ac generaliter, sed veraciter dicat: Omnis homo mendax.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.115.2;Rom.3.4 — Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Rom.3.4 — May it never be! Let God be true, and every human a liar. As it is written: 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.'
- ↩Jer.17.5 — Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
- ↩Ps.115.2;Rom.3.4 — Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Rom.3.4 — May it never be! Let God be true, and every human a liar. As it is written: 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.'
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
Take the next step each morning with a free daily devotional in Chosen Portion.
Bernard frames humility as a ladder climbed by small repeated acts; Chosen Portion turns that into practice with one daily devotional step at a time.
- A daily 10-minute portion focused on one virtue at a time
- Re-take the 12-step self-check monthly and see real movement
- Historic texts like Bernard's, one readable portion per day