Quotes About Dignity

Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude  in  any given set of circumstances, to  choose one's own way.

daß niemand das Recht hat, Unrecht zu tun, auch der nicht, der Unrecht erlitten hat.

Worshipping technique at the expense of encounter involves making man not only a mere thing, but also a mere means to an end.

The majority of prisoners suffered from a kind of inferiority complex. We all had once been or had fancied ourselves to be 'somebody.' Now we were treated like complete nonentities (The consciousness of one's inner value is anchored in higher, more spiritual things, and cannot be shaken by camp life. But how many free men, let alone prisoners, possess it?)

hay momentos en que la indignación puede surgir incluso en un prisionero aparentemente endurecido, indignación no causada por la crueldad o el dolor, sino por el insulto al que va unido.

Ceux qui ont vécu dans les camps se souviennent de ces prisonniers qui allaient, de baraque en baraque, consoler leurs semblables, leur offrant les derniers morceaux de pain qui leur restaient. Même s'il s'agit de cas rares, ceux-ci nous apportent la preuve qu'on peut tout enlever à un homme excepté une chose, la dernière des libertés humaines : celle de décider de sa conduite, quelles que soient les circonstances dans lesquelles il se trouve.

From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two—the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people

Austrian public-opinion pollsters recently reported that those held in highest esteem by most of the people interviewed are neither the great artists nor the great scientists, neither the great statesmen nor the great sport figures, but those who master a hard lot with their heads held high.

Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.

There are two races of men in this world, but only these two—the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man.

someone looks down on each of Experiences in a Concentration Camp 91 us in difficult hours—a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God—and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly—not miserably—knowing how to die.

Los que estuvimos en campos de concentración recordamos a los hombres que iban de barracón en barracón consolando a los demás, dándoles el último trozo de pan que les quedaba. Puede que fueran pocos en número, pero ofrecían pruebas suficientes de que al hombre se le puede arrebatar todo salvo una cosa: la última de las libertades humanas -la elección de la actitud personal ante un conjunto de circunstancias- para decidir su propio camino.

Don't let anyone—no matter how important, famous, or powerful—make you feel ashamed about standing up for your boundaries.

It's been my experience that people who treat others as inferiors are really only covering up their own lack of class.

I need not hate any man; he cannot hurt me. I need not flatter any man; he has nothing to give me.

As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship, as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do our part; mitigate the suffering of our fellow-prisoners; decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions; be as decent as we possibly can.

And there is a dignity in people; a solitude; even between husband and wife a gulf; and that one must respect, thought Clarissa, watching him open the door; for one would not part with it oneself, or take it, against his will, from one's husband, without losing one's independence, one's self-respect—something, after all, priceless.

One does not like to be told that one is naturally the inferior of a little man

I need not flatter any man; he has nothing to give me

To talk of 'prizing her open' as if she were an oyster, to use any but the finest and subtlest and most pliable tools upon her was impious and absurd.

And there is a dignity in people; a solitude; even between husband and wife a gulf; and that one must respect, thought Clarissa, watching him open the door; for one would not part with it oneself, or take it, against his will, from one's husband, without losing one's independence, one's self-respect—something, after all, priceless.

El dinero dignifica lo que es frívolo si no está pagado.

the chief glory of a woman is not to be talked of, said Pericles, himself a much-talked-of man)