Daily Inspiration Quote by Joe Davis

Aspiration with a governor on it: that is the quiet engine inside Joe Davis's line. "Study the best and highest things that are" opens like a ladder leaned against the sky, urging a kind of mental fandom for excellence. The verb choice matters. Not "own", not "achieve", but "study" - a posture of attention before it becomes a posture of ambition. In a celebrity context, that's a pointed distinction: the world rewards projection, yet Davis privileges apprenticeship, the slow discipline of looking closely at what surpasses you.

Then the turn: "but of yourself humble thoughts retain". The sentence snaps a leash on ego. "Retain" suggests humility isn't a mood, it's a practice - something you keep on hand, like a daily medication against fame's most predictable side effect: believing the applause is evidence of personal grandeur. The subtext reads like someone who has watched the machinery of celebrity up close, where your name gets larger while your perspective shrinks.

The phrasing also performs its own lesson. "Best and highest" is lofty, almost sermon-like; "humble thoughts" is plain, domestic. That contrast enacts the moral: let your standards be elevated, not your self-image. It's an ethic tailored to public life, where constant comparison can curdle into resentment or entitlement. Davis offers a third option: calibrate upward without inflating inward.