61+ Best Dignity Quotes To Help You Hold Your Head Up High

Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Dec 12, 2023 By Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Originally Published on Mar 13, 2021
Edited by Isobel Murphy
Business people greeting bowing gesture
Age: 0-99
Read time: 8.9 Min

Maintaining dignity is all about living a life that is worthy of respect.

It may not seem that hard to maintain dignity, but it is indeed very easy to fall short on your values. Dignity might be an intangible quality; nevertheless, it's crucial to deem every human and other living beings as equally dignified as yourself.

Human beings can fall short of their moral duties, and dignity means treating everyone with honor and respect. To bring back dignity and respect into our lives, it’s necessary to take a step towards discipline. Hence, these inspirational quotes on dignity will help you to remain a virtuous human being.

If you find these dignity quotes valuable, do check out these diligence quotes and discipline quotes too, to keep yourself in tune with compassion.

The Best Dignity And Respect Quotes

Old and young holding hands on light background

In this section, find dignity quotes about the ways in which learning about human dignity can help you to respect others.

1. “One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”

‒ Michael J. Fox.

2. “Self-respect is the fruit of discipline, the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.”

‒ Abraham Heschel.

3. “Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don't think you can, hold on.”

‒ James Frey, ‘A Million Little Pieces’.

4. “We all need to treat each other with human dignity and respect.”

‒ Madonna.

5. “Human dignity is the same for all human beings: when I trample on the dignity of another, I am trampling on my own.”

‒ Pope Francis.

6. “Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen.”

‒ Laura Hillenbrand, ‘Unbroken’.

7. “To hide feelings when you are near crying is the secret of dignity.”

‒ Dejan Stojanovic.

8. “Dignity has no price, when someone starts making small concessions, in the end, life loses all meaning.”

‒ José Saramago.

9. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

‒ Eleanor Roosevelt.

10. “Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.”

Herbert Hoover.

11. “Today it is time for every child to have a right to life, right to freedom, right to health, right to education, safety, the right to dignity, right to equality, and right to peace.”

‒ Kailash Satyarthi.

12. “Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.”

‒ Aristotle.

13. “Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.”

‒ Rick Bragg.

14. “Death with dignity is better than life with humiliation.”

‒ Hussain Ibn Ali.

15. “Our moral, religious, and political traditions are united in their respect for the dignity of human life.”

‒ Robert Casey.

Inspirational Dignity Quotes To Follow Everyday

It’s said that affirmations help to instill a good quality in a human being. This section gives you some inspirational quotes that are good for your daily reminder to act with dignity.

16. “By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man.”

‒ Immanuel Kant.

17. “To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.”

‒ Mikhail Bakunin.

18. “Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of man is an ideal worth fighting for and worth dying for.”

‒ Robert C. Maynard.

19. “No power on this earth can destroy the thirst for human dignity.”

‒ Nelson Mandela.

20. “Dignity does not float down from heaven it cannot be purchased nor manufactured. It is a reward reserved for those who labor with diligence.”

‒ Bill Hybels.

21. “When people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights.”

‒ Gilbert K. Chesterton.

22. “The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.”

Jackie Robinson.

23. “Of the multitude who throughout history have spoken for human dignity in times of great suffering and loss, no voice is more compelling than that of Anne Frank.”

‒ John F. Kennedy.

24. “Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.”

‒ Denis Diderot.

25. “Only that position can impart dignity in which we do not appear as servile tools but rather create independently within our circle.”

‒ Karl Marx.

26. “Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.”

‒ Laurence Sterne.

27. “Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed, dignity never been photographed.”

‒ Bob Dylan.

28. “To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”

Joan Didion.

29. “There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals.”

‒ Herman Melville.

30. “Chasing a person doesn’t give you value or build values in you. You earn your value by chasing morality and practicing dignity.”

‒ Shannon L. Alder.

Human Dignity Quotes For Women

Women and men deserve equal dignity. Here are some inspirational quotes on dignity and honor that resonate with the push for female equality and power.

31. “Freedom is to live with dignity.”

‒ Manal al-Sharif, ‘Daring To Drive’.

32. “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”

Mary Wollstonecraft, ‘A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman’.

33. “Never force yourself on another. If you do this, then this is you trampling on your own dignity without the external help.”

‒ Omoakhuana Anthonia.

34. “Be a woman of confidence and self-respect; give a man a reason worth fighting for.”

‒ Nikki Rowe.

35. “Every woman that finally figured out her worth, has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.”

‒ Shannon L. Alder.

36. “Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first.”

‒ Shannon L. Alder.

37. “Men who love their mothers treat women wonderfully. And they have enormous respect for women.”

‒ Ellen Barkin.

38. “When values disappear, the first people to suffer are women because people start losing their respect for women.”

‒ Rula Ghani.

39. “When men and women are able to respect and accept their differences then love has a chance to blossom.”

‒ John Gray.

40. “... societies that are most successful also treat their women and girls with respect. Otherwise, they won't be successful.”

‒ Barack Obama.

41. “Love and respect woman. Look to her not only for comfort, but for strength and inspiration.”

‒ Giuseppe Mazzini.

42. “Women have the right to insist that their dignity be respected.”

‒ Pope John Paul II.

43. “It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity.”

‒ Mary Wollstonecraft.

44. “The truth [is] that there is only one terminal dignity — love. And the story of love is not important — what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.”

‒ Helen Hayes.

45. “One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.”

‒ Simone de Beauvoir.

Inspirational Quotes On Dignity From Literature

As the mirror to our society, literature holds a treasure chest of book quotes about dignity and respect. Here are some inspirational quotes and dignity quotes to help you be a good person with pride.

46. “And, what in fact is dignity? In those

Who have it pure, it is the soul’s repose,

The base of character‒no mere reserve

That springs from pride, or want of mental nerve.”

‒ Too-qua-stee, ‘Dignity’.

47. “By dignity, we do not mean this man

If he should slip on a banana skin

Would thereby lose it with a funny fall.

If that is dignity why care at all?”

‒ Alan Dixon, ‘What Dignity Is Not’.

48. “Dignity is trained into royal children before they can toddle, graciousness, consideration for others, an unshakable belief in the greatness of their position.”

‒ Noel Streatfeild, ‘Ballet Shoes’.

49. “In her view, people, even if they had behaved deplorably in life, deserved a modicum of dignity in death. Especially family.”

‒ Khaled Hosseini, ‘And The Mountains Echoed’.

50. “It is surely a professional responsibility for us all to think deeply about these things so that each of us may better strive towards attaining 'dignity' for ourselves.”

‒ Kazuo Ishiguro, ‘The Remains Of The Day’.

51. “When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity.”

‒ Jack London, ‘To Build A Fire”.

52. “Things base and vile, holding no quantity, love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eye, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

‒ William Shakespeare, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

53. “What is called honors and dignities, and even honor and dignity, is generally fool's gold.”

‒ Victor Hugo, ‘Les Misérables’.

54. “Equality lies only in human moral dignity... Let there be brothers first, then there will be brotherhood, and only then will there be a fair sharing of goods among brothers.”

‒ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.

55. “Her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible…”

‒ George Eliot, ‘Middlemarch’.

56. “Your personal dignity was always more important to you than mere emotion, wasn't it?”

‒ Rachel Caine, ‘Bitter Blood’.

57. “Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine.”

‒ Charles Dickens, ‘Oliver Twist’.

58. “She carried her head high enough—even when we believed that she was fallen.”

‒ William Faulkner, ‘A Rose In Emily’.

59. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”

‒ Jane Austen, ‘Emma’.

60. “The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law, to the strength of the spirit.”

‒ Mahatma Gandhi.

61. “O love, whose lordly hand

Has bridled my desires,

And raised my hunger and my thirst

To dignity and pride...”

‒ Khalil Gibran, ‘Love’.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for dignity quotes then why not take a look at these destination quotes or find yourself quotes too?

We Want Your Photos!
We Want Your Photos!

We Want Your Photos!

Do you have a photo you are happy to share that would improve this article?
Email your photos

More for You

See All

Written by Rajnandini Roychoudhury

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

Rajnandini Roychoudhury picture

Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature. 

Read full bio >