Honour

[AikiDale]

Dr Johnson's Dictionary defined honour in several senses. The first sense described honour as "nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness." This sort of honour derives from the perceived virtuous conduct and personal integrity of the person endowed with it.

"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

— Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant

"We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."

— C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Edited July 19, 2006 by AikiDale

[carinab]

"Honour is a gift a man gives himself. No man can give it you, and none can take it away."

Okay, it's a movie quote from Rob Roy...but still a rather good one...and applicable to the gentler gender as well. Honour and courage go hand in hand. If you don't have the courage to keep to your word, then you have no honour.

[AShots]

“He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.” Walter Lippman

“Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done.”

Shakespeare

"What is honor. Honor is the absolute and unselfish adherence to all virtues. To truth. To courage. To forthrightness. It encompasses all these and yet it is greater. It is the fire illuminating the differences between an armed savage and the true warrior. It is the light that will guide you along the warrior's path. "

General Chang

[wide45]

"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."

Lois McMaster Bujold

[Genghis]

"In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give up earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose, that in any situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly." - Thomas Jefferson

"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be." - Socrates

"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." - Winston Churchill, commenting on Chamberlain’s signing the Munich pact with Hitler, quoted at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/opinion/18FRIE.html

[Gary Johnson]

Always do the right thing. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

- Samuel Clements (Mark Twain)

When young men seek to be like you,

when lazy men resent you,

when powerful men look over their shoulder at you,

when cowardly men plot behind your back,

when corrupt men wish you were gone and evil men want you dead...

Only then will you have done your share.

- Phil Messina

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.

To be your own man is a hard business.

If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened.

But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

- Rudyard Kipling

[wlktheduk]

"El honor no se mueve de lado como los congrejos. That is, honor does not move sidewise like a crab, senor" from "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler