I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

- Edward Gibbon

Respect the child. Wait and see the new product of Nature. Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions. Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wherever I look, I see signs of the commandment to honor one's parents and nowhere of a commandment that calls for the respect of a child.

- Alice Miller

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

- Albert Einstein

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

- Laozi (Lao Tzu, Lao Tse, Lao Tsu)

The essence of democracy is its assurance that every human being should so respect himself and should be so respected in his own personality that he should have opportunity equal to that of every other human being to show what he was meant to become.

- Anna Garlin Spencer

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

- Abraham Lincoln

Humans are ambitious and rational and proud. And we don't fall in line with people who don't respect us and who we don't believe have our best interests at heart. We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst.

- Rachel Maddow

We must respect the other fellow's religion,but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.

- H. L. Mencken

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

- Albert Camus

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.

- Napoleon Hill

This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him.

- William Lyon Phelps

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.

- Robert Schuller

When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become.

- Louis Pasteur

Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners. Friendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Mohandas K. Gandhi



Without self-confidence we are as babes in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to oneself.

- Virginia Woolf



What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.

- Molly Ivins



The conception of worth, that each person is an end per se, is not a mere abstraction. Our interest in it is not merely academic. Every outcry against the oppression of some people by other people, or against what is morally hideous is the affirmation of the principle that a human being as such is not to be violated. A human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered. [From: An Ethical Philosophy of Life]

- Felix Adler



An individual who breaks a law that 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 the law.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.



I have now reigned about 50 years in victory or peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot. They amount to fourteen. (960 C.E.)

- Abd Er-Rahman III of Spain



It is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others' religions as we would have them respect our own, a friendly study of the world's religions is a sacred duty.

- Mohandas K. Gandhi



The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individual's dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.

- Lyndon B. Johnson