Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I hate victims who respect their executioners.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Activist
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
There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
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
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
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
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
Respect for ones parents is the highest duty of civil life.
—Chinese Proverb
The myths have always condemned those who “looked back.” Condemned them, whatever the paradise may have been which they were leaving. Hence this shadow over each departure from your decision.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
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 get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest.
—Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
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
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
Respect commands itself and it can neither be given nor withheld when it is due.
—Eldridge Cleaver (1935–98) American Activist, Writer
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
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
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Respect the burden.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
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
Respect starts with yourself.
—Common Proverb
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
What reinforcement we may gain from hope; If not, what resolution from despair.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
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
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 depersonalize man is the dominant drift of our times.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
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
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