Quotations About Self-Respect

Self-esteem and Self-respect
Our culture is concerned with matters of self-esteem. Self-respect, on the other hand, may hold the key to achieving the peace of mind we seek. The two concepts seem very similar but the differences between them are crucial.

To esteem anything is to evaluate it positively and hold it in high regard, but evaluation gets us into trouble because while we sometimes win, we also sometimes lose. To respect something, on the other hand, is to accept it.

The person with self-respect simply likes her- or himself. This self-respect is not contingent on success because there are always failures to contend with. Neither is it a result of comparing ourselves with others because there is always someone better. These are tactics usually employed to increase self-esteem. Self-respect, however, is a given. We simply like ourselves or we don't. With self-respect, we like ourselves because of who we are and not because of what we can or cannot do.



Your DNA structure is designed so the choice to function in love is the only choice that brings you fulfillment. Stress is inner biofeedback, signaling you that frequencies are fighting within your system. The purpose of stress isn't to hurt you, but to let you know it's time to go back to the heart and start loving. ~ Sara Paddison, The Hidden Power of the Heart


Self-empowerment - that's learning to respect other people's music, but dance to your own tune as you master harmony within yourself. ~ Doc Childre, Self Empowerment


You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. ~ Robin Williams, comedian


Not respecting yourself, is the same as committing suicide at a slow rate. ~ Anonymous


You don't know what power you have until you make choices in a hard time. ~ Lord Dragnys


Respecting yourself means listening to your body and emotions continuously. Then acting beyond a linear logic to achieve ones goals. ~ Anonymous


In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned. ~ Jane Haddam


Self-respect can be a extension of your ego or a priceless virtue. ~ Anonymous


In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned. ~Jane Haddam


Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ~Cyril Connolly


I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~Frederick Douglass


A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself. ~Axel Munthe


If I despised myself, it would be no compensation if everyone saluted me, and if I respect myself, it does not trouble me if others hold me lightly. ~Max Nordau


That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. ~William J.H. Boetcker


I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing. ~Michel de Montaigne