Plato's Republic

For let me tell you, Socrates, that when a man thinks himself near death, fears and cares enter into his mind which he never had before; the tales of a world below and the punishment which is exacted there of deeds done here were once a laughing matter to him, but how is tormented with the thought that they may be true: either from the weakness of age, or because he is now drawing nearer to that other place, he has a clearer view of these things; suspicions and alarms crowd thickly upon him, and he begins to reflect and consider what wrongs he has done to others. And when he finds that the sum of his transgressions is great he will many a time like a child start up in his sleep for fear, and he is filled with dark forebodings. But to him who is conscious of no sin, sweet hope, as Pindar charmingly says , is the kind nurse of his age:

'hope,' he says 'cherishes the soul of him who lives in justice and holiness and is the nurse of his age and the companion of his journey; -hope which is mightiest to sway his restless soul of man.'

How admirable are his words! And the great blessing of 'riches, I do not say to every man, but to a good man, is, that he has had no occasion to deceive or to defraud others, either intentionally or unintentionally and when he departs to the world below he is not in apprehensions about offerings due to the gods or debts which he owes to men.

Humility - The second you think you have it - you've lost it.

Humility means to let go of all ego; pride, fear and desire. It is therefore one of the most difficult, yet essential attitudes for spiritual growth because only then are we able to tune in to the Inner Being (intuition) within us. Humility is both a prerequisite for, as well as the end result of, spiritual growth. To be humiliated is a great gift indeed because it gives us a great opportunity to be truly humble.
Today, the programming we receive from tv, music, the internet and other media tends to show us the exactly opposite idea – that pride and being praised is a good and desirable thing. But filled with pride there is hardly any room for any real Love to exist. By letting go of that pride, either through being humiliated or having the attitude of letting go (being humble), our attention is directed to what’s going on around us and we will have the opportunity to really Love Unselfishly and thus really care for others, which in our experience is the essence of true spirituality.

http://justhelga.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/humility/