50 Dignity Quotes to Embrace Your Worth

These inspiring dignity quotes celebrate the inherent worth and nobility of the human spirit.

Read more: 33 Quotes to Respect and Honor Your Body

50+ Inspiring Quotes on Dignity

“I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights… their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.” – Malala Yousafzai

“Every soul is beautiful and precious; is worthy of dignity and respect, and deserving of peace, joy and love.” – Bryant H. McGill

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” – Coco Chanel

“We believe in the dignity of man as an individual, whatever his race, colour or creed, and his right to better, fuller, and richer life.” – Lal Bahadur Shastri

“My father used to have an expression. He’d say, ‘Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in your community.” – Joe Biden

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

“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” – Jane Austen

“Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength.” – James E. Faust

“There is no teacher equal to mother and there’s nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father.” – Amit Ray

“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

“There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble.” – Washington Irving

“Making a comeback is one of the most difficult things to do with dignity.” – Greg Lake

“Never ever seek for gratefulness from mankind, you shall always see ungratefulness. Do what you must do as a solemn duty and that is what you have to do!” –  Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“By a lie, a man… annihilates his dignity as a man.” – Immanuel Kant

“The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.” – Dian Fossey

“The sum of behavior is to retain a man’s own dignity, without intruding upon the liberty of others.” – Francis Bacon

“The guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity.” – Laura Hillenbrand

“Without dignity, identity is erased.” – Laura Hillenbrand

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man’s soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” – Laura Hillenbrand

“There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means.” – Sophia Amoruso

“What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.” – Gloria E. Anzaldúa

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

“For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity.” – Frantz Fanon

“It is more offensive to outshine in dignity than in personal attractions.” – Baltasar Gracian

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

“The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity – love. And the story of a 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 “Inequality is a poison that is destroying livelihoods, stripping families of dignity, and splitting communities” – Sharan Burrow

“True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn.” – Philip Massinger

“I’m a black American, I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am. I have a lot of pride and dignity.” – Michael Jackson

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. ‘Good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad pride’ is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.” – John C. Maxwell

“Self-respect, dignity and grace are very important. You may look a certain way or come from a certain background but when you have these three qualities you stand apart from the crowd.” – Esha Deol

“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.” – Max de Pree

“I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.” – Julius Caesar

“There is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.” – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“Dignity is often a veil between us and the real truth of things.” – Edwin P. Whipple

“Yet what greater defeat could we suffer than to come to resemble the forces we oppose in their disrespect for human dignity?” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“For now, let us simply observe that the assault on human dignity is one of the prime goals of the visitation of fear, a prelude to the domination of the mind and the triumph of power.” – Wole Soyinka

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.” – Nelson Mandela

“What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.” – Baltasar Gracian

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

“Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity.” – William Shakespeare

“Nothing is more destructive of human dignity than a rule which imposes a mute and blind obedience.” – Anthony Eden

“It is base and unworthy to live below the dignity of our nature.” – Benjamin Whichcote

“No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” – Booker T. Washington

“The dignity of man is vindicated as much by the thinker and poet as by the statesman and soldier.” – Dr. James Bryant Conant

“Helping others is a good effort to instill human dignity.” – Gift Gugu Mona

“When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.” – Bayard Rustin

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another. What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations.” – Kofi Annan

Conclusion

If the world acknowledges humanity’s dignity, it’s acknowledging the inherent value of humans. This means that everyone is legally entitled to certain rights just because they’re human. The term “dignity” has traditionally referred to a person’s worth by virtue of traits such as the amount of money, power, and social standing. It is still thought of in that way when we hear “dignified.” However, the term “human dignity” is linked to respect and the conviction that every person has value due to their humanness