Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

No race can prosper¹ till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915)

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference² of others.

Dag Hammarskjold (1905 - 1961)

Human Dignity has gleamed only now and then and here and there, in lonely splendor³, throughout the ages, a hope of the better men, never an achievement of the majority.

James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

Be mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty⁴, confiding⁵ to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar⁶. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity.

John Brown

Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 AD - 180 AD)

One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.

Michael J. Fox (1961 - ), in "Saving Milly" by Morton Kondrake

Dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long together.

Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Dignity comes not from control, but from understanding who you are and taking your rightful place in the world.

Real Live Preacher, Real Live Preacher weblog, 05-01-05

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), 'Of Human Bondage⁷', 1915

There is a healthful hardiness⁸ about real dignity that never dreads⁹ contact and communion with others, however humble¹⁰.

Washington Irving (1783 - 1859)