What are the best books, writings and great works by traditional scholars and priests in Christianity dealing with the topic of humility? I want very traditional and age old works. For example, *The Imitation of Christ* focuses on the interior life of the individual Christian, encouraging them to follow the example of Christ in their daily lives. What would you suggest?

Contained in *[The Maxims and Sayings of St. Philip Neri](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_maxims_and_sayings_of_St_Philip_Neri)* are two quotes on humility which I have never fully understood: >To obtain perfectly the gift of humility, four things are required: to despise the world, to despise no person, to despise one's self, to despise being despised. and >He is perfect in the school of Christ who despises being despised, rejoices in self-contempt, and accounts himself to be very nothingness. QUESTION: Is it possible to interpret, in the context of humility, the meanings of "to despise being despised" and "despises being despised"? It almost sounds to me as if St. Philip Neri is indicating that a humble person ought to care if the world despises him; but, this would seem to be a contradiction with his own personal humility and the humility of every other Saint who cared not what the world thought of them. I have often wondered if this could be some sort of translational error, since, in my (perhaps erroneous) way of thinking, "not to despise being despised" and "despises not being despised" would be more suitable to convey the thought that the humble cared not if they were hated by the world.