It is understandable, in the awful trauma of post-communist disorientation and loss of national pride, that people should fend off the prospect of yet more self-abasing humiliation.

ECONOMIST: Sorry isn��t enough

His views about the affirmative action cases that come before him are shaped quite clearly by what he regards as the self-sufficient dignity of his hard-working grandfather and the humiliation he says he felt when others believed his scholarly accomplishments were the result of affirmative action.

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In her brief stay, she makes contact with both men, drunkenly embarrasses herself, causes turmoil among everyone she meets, and, along with whatever pleasure she can take, also gets humiliation, betrayal, and self-reproach.

NEWYORKER: Lost in the Mountains

Whatever their links to al-Qaeda, the jihadi groups draw their strength from a common pool of self-righteous anger at what they see as the humiliation of Muslims at the hands of the West.

ECONOMIST: Al-Qaeda

But there is also suffocation, self-effacement, and hierarchies of status and dominance that beget humiliation, resentment, and webs of toxic rivalry.

FORBES: Happiness, Freedom, and Autonomy

Seeking humility rather than self- aggrandizement is the fourth step toward authenticity, and seeking humility always means cheerfully accepting a certain amount of painful humiliation all along the way.

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