Few parents nowadays pay any regard to what their children say to them. The old-fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it… it’s just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard.
—William Lloyd Garrison (1805–79) American Journalist, Abolitionist
A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
Respect commands itself and it can neither be given nor withheld when it is due.
—Eldridge Cleaver (1935–98) American Author, Activist
Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A mere literary man is a dull man; a man who is solely a man of business is a selfish man; but when literature and commerce are united, they make a respectable man.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others governs our manners.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.
—C. Wright Mills (1916–62) American Sociologist, Academic
It’s so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that’s what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
Men are respectable only as they respect.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil. They give us, now and then, some of those luxurious sterile emotions that have a certain charm for the weak. They a
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.
—John Herschel (1792–1871) English Mathematician, Astronomer, Chemist
Respect a man, he will do the more.
—James Howell (c.1593–1666) Anglo-Welsh Writer, Historian
Reverence is one of the signs of strength, irreverence one of the surest indications of weakness. No man will rise high who jeers at sacred things. The fine loyalties of life must be reverenced or they will be fore sworn in the day of trial.
—Unknown
Having chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Fools take to themselves the respect that is given to their office.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
If you steal something small you are a petty thief, but if you steal millions you are a gentleman of society.
—Greek Proverb
Respect starts with yourself.
—Common Proverb
In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The inquiry in England is not whether a man has talents and genius, but whether he is passive and polite and a virtuous ass and obedient to noblemen’s opinions in art and science. If he is, he is a good man. If not, he must be starved.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
I think the worst thing this nation could do for humanity would be to leave any uncertainty as to our will, our purpose and our capacity to carry out our purpose.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician