Quotes About Dignity

Death with honor is better than life... life with dishonor.

There is no such thing as equality for some. Equality must be for all. That is what freedom is. That is what liberty is. No human being is born more or less important than any other. How can we allow ourselves to forget that? What simpler truth is there?

I knew she didn't suffer fools gladly, but she'd gladly make a fool suffer.

Subhumans, it was believed, are beings that lack that special something that makes us human. Because of this deficit, they don't command the respect that we, the truly human beings, are obliged to grant one another. They can be enslaved, tortured, or even exterminated—treated in ways in which we could not bring ourselves to treat those whom we regard as members of our own kind. This phenomenon is called dehumanization.

the closer we judge a creature is to us on the hierarchy, the more inclined we are to grant it moral standing.

Douglass gave voice to the reality of social death.

As he told of it over and over in public forums later, he portrayed his victory over Covey as the demonstration of the physical force necessary for male dignity and power.

Let it be remembered, there is no luxury so exquisite as the exercise of humanity, and no post so honorable as his, who defends the rights of man

Courtesy seldom costs anything, and the willingness to extend it can be its own subtle declaration of strength. There

To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity. I stopped attending Mass at Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and went instead to Our Lady of Angels. I no longer lingered after Friday prayer among my brethren. I went to temple at crowded times when the Brahmins were too distracted to come between God and me.

To me religion is about our dignity not our depravity

She was not a living doll, for there could be no living doll; but, so as not to shame an old man no longer a man, she had been made into a living toy. No, not a toy: for the old men, she could be life itself. Such life was, perhaps, life to be touched with confidence.

Technocrats tell us we can't go backward, we can't refuse technology, because then we won't progress. We are told that life is increasingly complex, that's the way it is […] If this is all true, then we are doomed. Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward; rather, returning to a simpler way allows us to regain our dignity, puts us in touch with the land, and makes us value human contact again.

We were to remember that we were beautiful, intelligent, capable, kings and queens, in possession of a history, in possession of a culture, in possession of ourselves, and yet the more she filled the room with this effortful light, the clearer the sense I got of the shape and proportions of the huge shadow that must, after all, hang over us. One

Her subject was pride, in all its forms.

Dignity is not located in seeking equality with the white man and his civilization: it is not about assuming the attitudes of the master who has allowed his slaves to eat at his table. It is about being oneself with all the multiplicities, systems and contradictions of one's way of being, doing and knowing. It is about being true to one's Self.

My skirts aren't a theater curtain for you to peep through," she hissed. "Impatient for the show to begin," he answered, unrepentant.

And I can't die easy thinking maybe the menfolks white or black is making a spit cup out of you. Have some sympathy for me. Put me down easy, Janie, I'm a cracked plate.

He ain't kissin' yo' mouf when he carry on over yuh lak dat. He's kissin' yo' foot and 'tain't in uh man tuh kiss foot long. Mouf kissin' is on uh equal and dat's natural but when dey got to bow down tuh love, dey soon straightens up.

protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat

He had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible.

People can be slave-ships in shoes.

You can't beat nobody down so low till you can rob 'em of they will.

What would slaves want to be free for anyway? They are being fed and taken care of. What more could they want?