"Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don't think you can, hold on."
— James Frey (A Million Little Pieces)

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them."
— Aristotle

"To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man."
— Mahatma Gandhi

"One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered."
— Michael J. Fox

"Purpose! Purposes are for animals with a hell of a lot more dignity than the human race! Just hop on that strange torpedo and ride it to wherever it's going"
— Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues)

"Each of us, face to face with other men, is clothed with some sort of dignity, but we know only too well all the unspeakable things that go on in the heart."
— Luigi Pirandello

"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows
with the ability to say no to oneself.
"
— Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907-1972

"Dignity is an affectation, cute but eccentric, like learning French or collecting scarves."
— Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius)

"To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity."
— Yann Martel (Life of Pi)

""I know, Ma. I'm a-tryin'. But them deputies- Did you ever see a deputy that didn't have a fat ass? An' they waggle their ass an' flop their gun aroun'. Ma", he said, "if it was the law they was workin' with, why we could take it. But it ain't the law. They're a-working away at our spirits. They're a-tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They're tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're working on our decency"."
— John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath)

"The dignity of man was everywhere tissue-paper thin."
— Dick Francis (Banker)

"There are some promotions in life, which, independent of the more substantial rewards they offer, acquire peculiar value and dignity from the coats and waistcoats connected with them. A field-marshal has his uniform; a bishop his silk apron; a counsellor his silk gown; a beadle his cocked hat. Strip the bishop of his apron, or the beadle of his hat and lace; what are they? Men. Mere men. Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine."
— Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist)

"Each act of our lives can contain simplicity and precision and thus can have tremendous beauty and dignity."
— Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

"What people regard as vanity—leaving great works, having children, acting in such a way as to prevent one's name from being forgotten—I regard as the highest expression of human dignity."
— Paulo Coelho (The Pilgrimage)

"Clint Stark: I was like you once, long time ago. I believed in the dignity of man. Decency. Humanity. But I was lucky. I found out the truth early, boy.

Ed Cunningham: And what is the truth, Stark?

Clint Stark: It's all very simple. There's no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic and vulgar animal. "
— The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao

"What is called honors and dignities, and even honor and dignity, is generally fool's gold."
— Victor Hugo (Les Misérables)

"No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."
— Booker T. Washington