Great Throughts Treasury

"Respect for man is the underlying spirit of civilization." - Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal

"Unity requires trust and mutual respect." - Peter W. Jedlicka

"No man is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness of himself." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"A life is sacred. Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on; it is not man." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its justice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Respect is not carried in great, bold proclamations, but in small moments of surprising intimacy and empathy." - Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

"As nearly as I can see, all the new isms – Socialism, Communism, Fascism, and especially the late but not lamented Technocracy – outdo even Capitalism itself in their preoccupation with one thing: The distribution of more machine-made commodities to more people. They all proceed on the theory that if we can all keep warm and full, and all own a Ford and a radio, the good life will follow. Their programs differ only in ways to mobilize machines to this end. Though they despise each other, they are all, respect of this objective, as identically alike as peas in a pod. They are competitive apostles of a single creed: salvation by machinery." - Aldo Leopold

"What the schools can teach is what we value as a community… love, empathy, caring, cooperation, commitment to others, spiritual and ethical sensitivity, respect for difference, self-discipline, tolerance and honesty." - Michael Lerner

"One great Reason why many Children abandon themselves wholly to silly sports and trifle away all their time insipidly is because they found their Curiosity baulk’d and their Enquiries neglected. But had they been treated with more kindness and Respect and their Questions answered, as they should, to their Satisfaction, I doubt not but they would have taken more Pleasure in Learning and improving their Knowledge, wherein there would be still Newness and Variety, which is what they are delighted with, than in returning over and over to the same Play and Playthings." - John Locke

"There is no other way of guarding one’s self against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect. A prudent prince must therefore take a third course, by choosing for his council wise men, and giving these alone full liberty to speak the truth to him, but only of those things that he asks and of nothing else; but he must ask them about everything and hear their opinion, and afterwards deliberate by himself in his own way." - Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

"After you get your freedom, your enemy will respect you." -

"My only task is to be what I am, a man seeking God in silence and solitude, with respect for the demands and realities of his own vocation, and fully aware that others too are seeking the truth in their own way." - Thomas Merton

"Self-respect cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that knowing the good, we have gone for the great." - James A. Michener, fully James Albert Michener

"What you respect will move toward you. What you do not respect will move away from you. It may be friends, wisdom, or money." - Michael Dean Murdock

"The surest way of ruining a youth is to teach him to respect those who think as he does more highly than those who think differently from him." - Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"You should practice humility first toward man, and only then toward God. He who despises men has no respect for God." - Paracelsus, aka 'Paracelsus the Great', born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim NULL

"I don't have a lot of respect for talent. Talent is genetic. It's what you do with it that counts." - Martin Ritt

"Nations will rise and fall, but equality remains the ideal. The universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human race, not for the dominant few." - Carlos Peña Rómulo

"Jainism describes a world without a creator God in which human beings’ true nature as “energy, consciousness, and bliss” has been tarnished by karma. The free movement of life force toward its fulfillment in purity as the supreme value, upheld by an ethic of radical non-violence (ahimsa), characterized by a respect for the life force of all beings and a recognition of the fundamental interconnectedness of all… ignore this truth about interconnectedness endangers ourselves and the planet, whether we subscribe to the Jain worldview or not." - Joseph Runzo and Nancy M. Martin

"We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart." - Walter Scott, fully Sir Walter Scott,1st Baronet

"Every human being, simply by virtue of his or her humanity, is a child of God and therefore in possession of rights that even kings must respect." -

"Hatred… requires respect for one’s opponent; acknowledgment of equal rank is a part of it. One despises beings of lower rank." - Oswald Spengler, fully Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler

"[Growing up] is especially difficult to achieve for a child whose parents do not take him seriously; that is, who do not expect proper behavior from him, do not discipline him, and finally, do not respect him enough to tell him the truth." -

"Nothing destroys one’s respect in the hearts of others more than greed." - Muhammed al-Taqī or Muhammad al-Jawād, given name Muhammad ibn ‘Alī ibn Mūsā

"If people are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own." - Alfred Edward Taylor

"The infinite significance of every moment of time is this: in it we decide and are decided about, with respect to our eternal future." -

"All instruction, all criticism, every reduction in choice, every manifestation of hierarchy, every act of secrecy subtly lowers people’s self-belief. Coaching, trust, openness, respect, authentic praise, freedom of choice and, of course, success raise it." - John Whitmore, fully Sir John Whitmore

"Age demands respect; youth, love." -

"The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity." - Francis Maitland Balfour

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." - Albert Einstein

"The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity." - Benjamin Franklin

"Respect is not fear and awe; it...is the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality. Respect, thus, implies the absence of exploitation. I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me." -

"Man does not live by bread alone. Many prefer self-respect to food." -

"Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views." -

"Self-respect knows no considerations." -

"Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality." -

"Respect for the rights of others means peace." - Benito Juárez , born Benito Pablo Juárez García

"In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law ... that would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The most powerful lessons about ethics and morality do not come from school discussions or classes in character-building. They come from family life where people treat one another with respect, consideration, and love." - Neil Kurshan

"Prestige is overrated; what does it give you other than a sense of importance and entitlement? The high esteem that others bestow upon you is ephemeral; it can evaporate overnight. Self-respect is better than prestige." - Holiday Mathis

"Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves." -

"If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality when one knows not fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on. Discipline, pride, self-respect, self-confidence, and the love of glory are attributes which will make a man courageous even when he is afraid." -

"Our species is unique in its great creativity with respect to meaningfulness. Our systems of meaning vary tremendously from moment to moment, from one individual to another, and from society to society." - Irving Singer

"The country’s largest media institutions operate on a basis of enormous respect for presidential power. Overall, mass media outlets restrain the momentum of denunciations lest they appear to create instability for the Republic." - Norman Solomon

"Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand they respect yours." - Chief Tecumseh, also known as Tecumtha or Tekamthi

"He who does not have the courage to speak up for his rights cannot earn the respect of others." - Rene G. Torres

"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 E. Turner

"A man’s respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his paycheck." -

"A man’s respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his paycheck." - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

"A man’s respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his paycheck." -