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
Esteem has more engaging charms than friendship and even love.—It captivates hearts better, and never makes ingrates.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
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
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 flippant, frivolous man may ridicule others, may controvert them, scorn them; but he who has any respect for himself seems to have renounced the right of thinking meanly of others.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.
—Charlotte Bronte (1816–1855) English Novelist, Poet
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
He that respects not is not respected.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Respect starts with yourself.
—Common Proverb
The worst indignity is to be given a bedpan by a stranger who calls you by your first name.
—Maggie Kuhn (1905–95) American Social Activist
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
‘When we take people,’ thou wouldst say, ‘merely as they are, we make them worse; when we treat them as if they were what they should be, we improve them as far as they can be improved.’
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
We must build a new world, a far better world—one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Having the courage to live within one’s means is respectability.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Love and respect woman. Look to her not only for comfort, but for strength and inspiration and the doubling of your intellectual and moral powers. Blot out from your mind any idea of superiority; you have none.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) Italian Patriot, Political Leader
Religion—a daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.—Impiety—your irreverence toward my deity.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
I hate victims who respect their executioners.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Activist
To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
The respect of those you respect is worth more than the applause of the multitude.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.
—Thucydides (c.455?c.400 BCE) Greek Historian
Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.
—Norman Cousins (1912–1990) American Political Journalist
There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age — I missed it coming and going.
—J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) English Novelist, Playwright, Critic
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
The way to procure insults is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
What women want is what men want. They want respect.
—Marilyn vos Savant (b.1946) American Columnist, Author, Lecturer, Playwright
Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen, and you kill his body; deprive him of self-respect and you kill his spirit.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
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