Respect is the cornerstone of a healthy relationship, and everyone wants to be respected by those around them. It’s not always easy to show and receive respect, though. These thought-provoking and inspirational respect quotes help you discover how to cultivate respect in all aspects of your life and how respect can strengthen relationships, build trust, reduce conflict, and create a healthier, more meaningful life. Most enlightening quotes about respect help you explore the power of respect and how it can unlock unparalleled growth and connection in your lives, both professionally and personally.
Best Respect Quotes
We don’t need to share the same opinions as others, but we need to be respectful. Taylor Swift
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university. Albert Einstein
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners. Laurence Sterne
Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love. Fyodor Dostoevsky
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth. Voltaire
Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you smile, laugh, and feel loved. Roy T. Bennett
Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self respect leads to self discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power. Clint Eastwood
Make improvements, not excuses. Seek respect, not attention. Roy T. Bennett
Self respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. Abraham Joshua Heschel
Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be. Leo Tolstoy
Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear. Albert Camus
Friendship my definition is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don’t have trust, the friendship will crumble. Stieg Larsson
This world of ours must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. Tecumseh
I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. Winston S. Churchill
Respect yourself if you would have others respect you. Baltasar Gracian
How would your life be different if. You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day. You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey. Steve Maraboli
Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Youth is wasted on the young. George Bernard Shaw
The final test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him. William Lyon Phelps
If you truly want to be respected by people you love, you must prove to them that you can survive without them. Michael Bassey Johnson
Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand. Lakhdar Brahimi
Go up close to your friend, but do not go over to him! We should also respect the enemy in our friend. Friedrich Nietzsche
A woman knows very well that, though a wit sends her his poems, praises her judgment, solicits her criticism, and drinks her tea, this by no means signifies that he respects her opinions, admires her understanding, or will refuse, though the rapier is denied him, to run through the body with his pen. Virginia Woolf
I think a lot of people have lost respect for the individual, you know, the individual, the person who doesn’t conform. Erykah Badu
We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is each the other’s opposite and complement. Hermann Hesse
Perhaps the surest test of an individual’s integrity is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self respect. Thomas S. Monson
It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters, Amit Ray
Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self respect, but for respect from others. Barry Bonds
Respect yourself and others will respect you. Confucius
I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man’s self respect is a sin. Antoine de Saint Exupery
I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time. Isaac Asimov
I’m not everybody’s cup of tea. But sometimes criticism can be hurtful. Be respectful. I’m a good piano player, I can sing well, I write good songs. If you don’t like it, fair enough. But give me a break. Elton John
If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self respect will you compel others to respect you. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I think I’m a natural born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it’s authority that I respect. Tupac Shakur
We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws. Hunter S. Thompson
I have always believed that I should have had no difficulty in causing my rights to be respected. Eli Whitney
It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect. Hermann Hesse
The person who comes up to you and makes the most noise and is the most intrusive is invariably the person in the room who has no respect for you at all, and it’s really all about them. Robbie Coltrane
It’s okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn’t give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don’t like what they are saying. Learn to recognize good writing when you read it, even if it means overcoming your pride and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable. Ashly Lorenzana
As the mother of two daughters, I have great respect for women. And I don’t ever want to lose that. Vera Wang
And I can fight only for something that I love, love only what I respect, and respect only what I at least know. Adolf Hitler
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. Gilbert K. Chesterton
Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go around looking for it, and I think it can be poisonous. I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, Please a little less love, and a little more common decency. Kurt Vonnegut
Our moral, religious, and political traditions are united in their respect for the dignity of human life. Robert Casey
The truest form of love is how you behave toward someone, not how you feel about them. Steve Hall
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. Albert Einstein
A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyways, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own because he knows the value of a woman’s heart. Shannon Alder
If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. Abraham Lincoln
When you find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will stand in front of you when other’s cast stones, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who will hold your hand when your sick, who thinks your pretty without makeup, the one who turns to his friends and say, that’s her, the one that would bear your rejection because losing you means losing his will to live, who kisses you when you screw up, watches the stars and names one for you and will hold and rock that baby for hours so you can sleep you marry him all over again. Shannon Alder
America wants its respect. Tupac Shakur
So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused. Hermann Hesse
Never dress down for the poor. They won’t respect you for it. They want their First Lady to look like a million dollars. Imelda Marcos
Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners. Laurence Sterne
Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them. John Updike
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit. Theodore Roosevelt
People want to hear what I have to say and respect what I say. Jennifer Capriati
Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect. Wm. Paul Young
I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place. Maya Angelou
There are so many men, all endlessly attempting to sweep me off my feet. And there is one of you, trying just the opposite. Making sure my feet are firm beneath me, lest I fall. Patrick Rothfuss
Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. Malcolm X
I cannot compromise my respect for your love. You can keep your love, I will keep my respect. Amit Kalantri
When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you. Lao Tzu
I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one’s self respect. Mahatma Gandhi
One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say. Bryant H. McGill
I can be hurt, she said, only by people I respect. Mary Balogh
Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. Albert Einstein
Love is honesty. Love is a mutual respect for one another. Simone Elkeles
A person’s a person, no matter how small. Dr. Seuss
I never said, I want to be alone. I only said I want to be let alone! There is all the difference. Greta Garbo
I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. Jackie Robinson
If you spend your life sparing people’s feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them. F. Scott Fitzgerald
There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self. Henri Frederic Amiel
It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack. Germany Kent
When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet in his private heart no man much respects himself. Mark Twain
People can have their opinions about everything in the world, but people’s opinions end where the tip of my nose begins. Your opinions of others can only go so far as to where their own shoreline is. The world is for your taking, but other people are not. One is only allowed to have an opinion of me, if that person is done educating him/herself on everything about me. Before people educate themselves on everything about you, they’re not allowed to open their venomous mouthes and have an opinion about you. C. JoyBell C.
Respect is what we owe; love, what we give. Philip James Bailey
When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be. Thomas S. Monson
To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater. Bono
Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first. Shannon L. Alder
I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity. Julius Erving
Friendship is selfless love, care, respect, and honor not a profitable opportunity. Santosh Kalwar
We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other. Malala Yousafzai
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
I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect. J. D. Salinger
There is strange comfort in knowing that no matter what happens today, the Sun will rise again tomorrow. Aaron Lauritsen
There exist only three beings worthy of respect the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create. Charles Baudelaire
How would your life be different if. You approached all relationships with authenticity and honesty? Let today be the day. You dedicate yourself to building relationships on the solid foundation of truth and authenticity. Steve Maraboli
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
It’s very dramatic when two people come together to work something out. It’s easy to take a gun and annihilate your opposition, but what is really exciting to me is to see people with differing views come together and finally respect each other. Fred Rogers
And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was this one. She told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected. Now she said to always pick being respected. Chris Christie
Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you. Timothy Keller
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect. Edward Gibbon
The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard. William Hazlitt
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
Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned. David Gemmell
It’s not that the Irish are cynical. It’s rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody. Brendan Behan
You are evidence of your mother’s strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and regardless she has always maintained her sanity. Criss Jami
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
You will never gain anyone’s approval by begging for it. When you stand confident in your own worth, respect follows. Mandy Hale
It is so important to get respect for what you do and at the same time give it. Estelle Parsons
The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to respect the woman that gave birth to his children. It is because of her that you have the greatest treasures in your life. You may have moved on, but your children have not. If you can’t be her soulmate, then at least be thoughtful. Whom your children love should always be someone that you acknowledge with kindness. Your children notice everything and will follow your example. Shannon L. Alder
As all human beings are, in my view, creatures of God’s design, we must respect all other human beings. That does not mean I have to agree with their choices or agree with their opinions, but indeed I respect them as human beings. Stockwell Day
What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. Robert F. Kennedy
Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them. Marilyn Monroe
It’s not so much the journey that’s important; as is the way that we treat those we encounter and those around us, along the way. Jeremy Aldana
I always respect a woman. Enrique Iglesias
He who wants a rose must respect her thorn. André Gide
I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with people you don’t agree with or like. Margaret Mead
Let me make two remarks. First I concentrate on the task ahead for 2016. I’m quite busy with that thank you very much. And I’m looking with great interest in the American election campaign. For the second time during their press conference, the clicking sounds of the cameras was deafening. Claudia Clark
But really, we also need to learn how to love one another as women. How to appreciate and respect each other. Chaka Khan
Dignity will only happen when you realize that having someone in your life doesn’t validate your worth. Shannon L. Alder
If we are not free, no one will respect us. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have nothing against respecting people who lived before, but we have no responsibility toward them. Leon Kass
The struggles we endure today will be the good old days we laugh about tomorrow. Aaron Lauritsen
Assuredly, Loving Souls, you should go to God with all humility and respect, humbling yourselves in His presence, especially when you remember your past ingratitude and sins. Alphonsus Liguori
Anyone who teaches me deserves my respect, honoring and attention. Sonia Rumzi
Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. Bruce Lee
If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love our friends for their sakes rather than for our own. Charlotte Brontë
There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self respect, or his self confidence. He is still a King. Orison Swett Marden
Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three. Ziad K. Abdelnour
I’ve been so lucky to work with such great people people that are such hard workers and have such a respect and appreciation for one another. Blake Lively
Tolerance only for those who agree with you is no tolerance at all. Ray A. Davis
I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature. Paulo Coelho
It is when we think we can act like God, that all respect is lost, and I think this is the downfall of peace. We lie if we say we do not see color and culture and difference. We fool ourselves and cheat ourselves when we say that all of us are the same. We should not want to be the same as others and we should not want others to be the same as us. Rather, we ought to glory and shine in all of our differences, flaunting them fabulously for all to see! It is never a conformity that we need! We need not to conform! What we need is to burst out into all these beautiful colors! C. JoyBell C.
I believe that working with good people matters because then the work environment is good. If there is a sense of respect and belief among the people you work with, that is when good work is done. Ranbir Kapoor
I have met some highly intelligent believers, but history has no record to say that she knew or understood the mind of god. Yet this is precisely the qualification which the godly must claim so modestly and so humbly to possess. It is time to withdraw our respect from such fantastic claims, all of them aimed at the exertion of power over other humans in the real and material world. Christopher Hitchens
We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do. Sylvia Earle
When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself. Mark Twain
Be a warrior when it comes to delivering on your ambitions. And a saint when it comes to treating people with respect, modeling generosity, and showing up with outright love. Robin S. Sharma
Abuse and respect are diametric opposites You do not respect someone whom you abuse, and you do not abuse someone whom you respect. Lundy Bancroft
We learned about gratitude and humility that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect. Michelle Obama
Men didn’t respect beauty they used it. Nora Roberts
I don’t believe a champion is the biggest, baddest, meanest dude in the world. I think the champion is like a warrior; it’s like the head knight or lead samurai humble men of integrity, respect, and honor that treat people kindly. Jon Jones
Your suffering needs to be respected. Don’t try to ignore the hurt, because it is real. Just let the hurt soften you instead of hardening you. Let the hurt open you instead of closing you. Let the hurt send you looking for those who will accept you instead of hiding from those who reject you. Bryant McGill
Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts? Confucius
