If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
I shall be glad when you have strangled the invincible respectability that dogs your steps.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
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
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
True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.
—Ralph Washington Sockman (1889–1970) American United Methodist Pastor
Fools take to themselves the respect that is given to their office.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spend no more labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Every man is to be respected as an absolute end in himself; and it is a crime against the dignity that belongs to him as a human being, to use him as a mere means for some external purpose.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
If you steal something small you are a petty thief, but if you steal millions you are a gentleman of society.
—Greek Proverb
Respect the burden.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Man is still a savage to the extent that he has little respect for anything that cannot hurt him.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is most often unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Respect a man, he will do the more.
—James Howell (c.1593–1666) Anglo-Welsh Writer, Historian
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
This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.
—William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943) American Author, Critic, Scholar
Things hard to come by are much esteemed.
—Latin Proverb
We live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think we thus lose some respect for one another.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.
—John Herschel (1792–1871) English Mathematician, Astronomer, Chemist
There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
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
We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in this esteem.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
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
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
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
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beingsthat doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.
—Buddhist Teaching