[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Humility Is a Strange Thing. The Moment You Think You've Got It, You've Lost It

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The October 2025 issue of Nigel Rees' "The Quote Unquote Newsletter"
contains an inquiry about the statement in the subject line which has
been attributed to Sir Edward Henry Hulse, 6th Baronet, who died in
1903.

I found no substantive evidence that any of the Hulse Baronets
employed this saying. The earliest match I found appeared in a 1938
work titled "Master Book of Humorous Illustrations" compiled and
edited by Leewin B. Williams. This book contained thousands of brief
passages about miscellaneous topics. The following sentence appeared
at the top of a page without attribution:

[Begin excerpt]
"Humility is that strange thing that the moment you think you have it,
you have lost it."
[End excerpt]

I conjecture that the attribution to Sir Edward Hulse resulted from a
naming confusion. A different person named E. D. Hulse was linked to
the saying via a religious periodical in 1967.

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/10/05/humility-lost/

Earlier citations, interesting material, and feedback would be welcome.
Garson

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