Integrity can neither be lost nor concealed nor faked nor quenched nor artificially come by nor outlived nor, I believe, in the long run denied.
—Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American Short Story Writer, Novelist
Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Woman’s honor is nice as ermine; it will not bear a soil.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Don’t look for more honor than your learning merits.
—Hebrew Proverb
Since an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Industry need not wish, and he that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gains without pains. He that hath a trade hath an estate, and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor; but then the trade must be worked at, and the calling followed, or neither the, estate nor the office will enable us to pay our taxes. If we are industrious, we shall never starve; for, at the workingman’s house hunger looks in, but dares not enter. Nor will the bailiff or the constable enter, for industry pays debts, while idleness and neglect increase them.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.
—Pliny the Elder (23–79CE) Roman Statesman, Scholar
Purity is the feminine, truth the masculine of honor.
—David Hare (b.1947) English Dramatist, Director, Film-Maker
Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.
—Akhenaten (1378BCE–1348BCE) Egyptian Monarch, Religious Leader
Act well your part; there all honor lies.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Teachers who educate children deserve more honor than parents who merely gave them birth; for bare life is furnished by the one, the other ensures a good life.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
A person dishonored is worst than dead.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
That chastity of honor which felt a stain like a wound.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Honor’s a fine imaginary notion, that draws in raw and unexperienced men to real mischiefs.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
He who has lost honor can lose nothing more.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting, but never hit soft.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant are the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
One may survive distress, but not disgrace.
—Scottish Proverb
As to honor, you know, it’s a very fine mediaeval inheritance which women never got hold of. It wasn’t theirs.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
A fisherman may measure his catch by the size, but when is a man big enough to keep?
—Unknown
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.
—Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) Finnish Composer of the Late Romantic, Early Modern Periods
The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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