Dignity quotes

Beyond Good and Evil, section 287, Helen Zimmern public-domain translation, Project Gutenberg #4363. The represented witness prints “THE NOBLE SOUL HAS REVERENCE FOR ITSELF” in capitals; the frozen catalog keeps ordinary capitalization. Nietzsche’s claim belongs to his rank / nobility argument and is not an evidence-based rule of self-esteem.

The Souls of Black Folk, “Of the Training of Black Men,” Project Gutenberg #408. The sentence opens a longer passage in which Du Bois moves “across the color line” among Shakespeare, Balzac, Dumas, Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius; the context is Black cultural and intellectual dignity under segregation.

Thrift, Chapter IV, “Means of Saving,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles is arguing that working people should reject the idea that labour is degrading and use leisure for cultivation; the surrounding passage contains period class judgments that are not adopted as present-day social evidence.

An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, Project Gutenberg #68724. Wollstonecraft connects “Respect thyself” with religion, justice and self-love while criticizing social arrangements that encourage people to sacrifice truthful character for status.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; the sentence appears during a discussion of social conditions that punish women while leaving the underlying injustice intact.

Arms and the Man, Act II, Project Gutenberg #3618. Sergius says “A gentleman has no right to hurt a woman under any circumstances” while apologizing after gripping Louka hard enough to bruise her; Louka immediately challenges the adequacy of his apology. The line is fictional dramatic dialogue that exposes contradictions in Sergius’s chivalric self-image rather than a complete legal or relationship rule.

A Little Princess; Sara uses an imagined inner identity to preserve dignity during poverty and mistreatment.

Utilitarianism, Chapter II, “What Utilitarianism Is,” Project Gutenberg #11224. Mill’s “human being dissatisfied / pig satisfied” comparison occurs in his argument that some pleasures associated with higher faculties have greater quality, alongside his appeal to dignity and competent judges. It is nineteenth-century normative moral philosophy, not an empirical measure of happiness or human worth.

“A Man’s a Man for A’ That,” 1795, represented in Project Gutenberg #18388. The Scots “gowd” means gold; the poem argues for human worth beyond inherited rank and wealth.

By the Waters of Babylon: Little Poems in Prose, V. “Currents,” first published in March 1887 and represented by Project Gutenberg #3473. The line follows the image of Jewish exiles fleeing oppression toward America. It expresses a literary and historical ideal of welcome; it is not presented as evidence that immigrants in practice were universally welcomed.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chapter XLI, “Free At Last,” Project Gutenberg #11030. Jacobs tells the reader that her story ends with freedom rather than marriage, then explains that she and her children are free while her hope for a home of her own remains unrealized. This is autobiographical testimony from the history of U.S. slavery.

Political Ideals, discussion of what social institutions should make possible for individuals. Russell immediately connects self-respect with courage, hope and living by the best within oneself despite obstacles.

“The New Colossus,” written November 2, 1883 for the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund and represented by the U.S. National Park Service. The quoted invitation is spoken by Lazarus’s personified statue within a sonnet about immigration and refuge.

Elements of Morals, Chapter XIV, section 165, printed page 296, Caroline Rollin Corson’s 1884 English translation, Project Gutenberg #37016. “Remember that thou art a man and do not degrade thyself: this is self-respect” appears in the same paragraph as Janet’s paired reminder against vain pride, making self-respect and humility complementary parts of his moral argument rather than generic affirmation copy.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; the sentence introduces a turning point in Douglass’s account of resistance.

Letter to the Reverend Samson Occom, February 11, 1774, published in the Connecticut press and represented by the National Constitution Center. Wheatley’s explicitly religious and natural-rights argument condemns oppression while speaking from the historical context of Atlantic slavery.

Jane Eyre; Jane insists on moral and personal independence during a decisive conversation with Rochester.

Acts 17:26 in the King James Version; opening clause.

“On Being Brought from Africa to America,” in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), represented by Project Gutenberg #409. The poem’s eighteenth-century racial and Christian vocabulary is preserved in historical context; interpretation remains attentive to Wheatley’s position as an enslaved Black poet writing for a colonial audience.

Pygmalion, Act V, Project Gutenberg #3825. Eliza tells Pickering that the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she is treated, contrasting Pickering’s respect with Higgins’s treatment of her. The line remains dramatic dialogue about class, dignity and social recognition rather than a universal sociological formula.

“Savannah Freedmen’s Orphan Asylum,” an appeal published in the Anti-Slavery Reporter, March 2, 1868, represented by Reconstruction 360’s primary-document transcription. The printed appeal is identified as Harriet Jacobs’s and signed “LINDA JACOBS.” The sentence concerns aged freedpeople, poverty and post-emancipation relief during Reconstruction; it is historical advocacy, not a claim that freedom can be reduced to material comfort.

Up from Slavery, Chapter XIV, “The Atlanta Exposition Address,” Project Gutenberg #2376. The sentence occurs inside Washington’s reproduced 1895 Atlanta Exposition address, where he argues for the dignity of common labour and beginning economic development from practical foundations.

Amiel's Journal, entry dated April 6, 1866, in Mary Augusta Ward’s public-domain English translation; the entry reflects on the qualities of a gentleman.

How to Succeed; the sentence appears in Marden’s discussion of temptation, aspiration, and the damage caused when self-respect is surrendered.

Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVII, Project Gutenberg #1260. Jane answers the pressure to remain with Rochester by saying she cares for herself and will respect herself more when friendless and unsupported, then explicitly invokes law, principles and temptation. It is fictional first-person moral reasoning under dramatic pressure, not Charlotte Brontë autobiography or universal relationship advice.

The Human Machine, discussion of using experience for self-command. Bennett’s claim is philosophical self-training advice; it does not imply that every failure is beneficial or emotionally easy.

The House of Mirth, Book One, Chapter 1, Project Gutenberg #284. The narrator describes Lily Bart as a product and victim of the civilization that formed her, turning the links of her bracelet into an image of manacles while Selden considers the social forces shaping her life. It remains literary social criticism and characterization rather than a literal claim of imprisonment or a clinical diagnosis.

Speech to the National Woman’s Rights Convention, New York, May 1866, represented by the National Constitution Center historical document. Harper links racial injustice, women’s inequality, civil liberty and shared social responsibility in a Reconstruction-era argument for universal rights.

The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, Related by Herself, 1831. Prince’s oral account was taken down for publication; the passage explicitly explains why she wanted English readers to know what slavery felt like from an enslaved person’s perspective.

The Power of Truth, “The Courage to Face Ingratitude.” Project Gutenberg #56020; first published August 1902. Jordan’s standard is moral perseverance, not indifference to all criticism.

A Voice from the South, “Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race,” Project Gutenberg #61741 / Wikisource 1892 text. The sentence belongs to Cooper's Black feminist argument about representation, education and racial uplift; it is not a generic claim that one individual literally represents every Black person.

Darkwater, “Credo.” The passage uses Du Bois’s period language of race and lineage within a broader declaration of human brotherhood, service, justice and liberty.