* The truth which has made us free will in the end make us glad also. Every outcry against the oppression of some people by other people, or against what is morally hideous is the affirmation of the principle that a human being as such is not to be violated. A human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered.”
-- Felix Adler

Women's empowerment is intertwined with respect for human rights.
-- Mahnaz Afkhami

* We’re never going to have respectful and reverential relationships with the planet- and sensible policies about what we put in the air, the soil, the water – if very young children don’t begin learning about these things literally in their houses, backyards, streets and schools. We need to have human beings who are oriented that way from their earliest memories.”
-- Elise Boulding

* Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.
-- Lakhdar Brahimi

In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations. I think respect and understanding will help that village function better than it does today.
-- Lakhdar Brahimi

* The well-being and the hopes of the peoples of the world can never be served until peace - as well as freedom, honor and self-respect - is secure.
-- Ralph J. Bunche

In the final analysis, true justice is not a matter of courts and law books, but of a commitment in each of us to liberty and mutual respect.
-- Jimmy Carter

"Reverence for life is more than solicitude or sensitivity for life. It is a sense of the whole, a capacity for inspired response, a respect for the intricate universe of individual life. It is the supreme awareness of awareness itself."
-- Norman Cousins

* "Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free."
-- 14th Dalai Lama

* “Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive. We must recognize the frequent contradictions between short-term benefit and long-term harm.”
~ Dalai Lama

* I PLEDGE to live, work and act in a loving, respectful way towards this Earth that I call home, and towards all who live upon it, every insect, animal, fish, bird, plant, human and tree....
~ Guy Dauncey

"In the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

* This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

* “Men are respectable only as they respect”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

* The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”
-- Benjamin Franklin

Nonviolence, therefore, can be described as an honest and diligent pursuit of truth. It could also mean the search for the meaning of life or the purpose of life, questions that have tormented humankind for centuries. The fact that we have not been able to find satisfactory answers to these questions does not mean there is no answer. It only means we have not searched with any degree of honesty. The search has to be both external and internal. We seek to ignore this crucial search because the sacrifices it demands are revolutionary. It means moving away from greed, selfishness, possessiveness, and dominance to love, compassion, understanding, and respect.
-- Arun Gandhi

* They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views.
~ Mohandas Gandhi

To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
-- Mohandas Gandhi

..the United States is subject to the scrutiny of a candid world ... what the United States does, for good or for ill, continues to be watched by the international community, in particular by organizations concerned with the advancement of the rule of law and respect for human dignity.
-- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

* Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.
~ Jane Goodall

A balance of interests rather than a balance of power, a search for compromise and concord rather than a search for advantages at other people's expense, and respect for equality rather than claims to leadership - such are the elements which can provide the groundwork for world progress…
~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Tolerance, a term which we sometimes use in place of the words respect, mercy, generosity, or forbearance, is the most essential element of moral systems; it is a very important source of spiritual discipline and a celestial virtue of perfected people.
-- M. Fethullah Gülen

* Freedom means to build a democratic system enshrined with the respect for fundamental rights of Man, of the human being, of the individuals.
-- Xanana Gusmão

* Freedom goes hand-in-hand with mutual respect.
-- Xanana Gusmão

The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human rights of all its people.
-- John Hume

* Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.
-- John Hume

I pledge to protect the earth
And respect the Web of Life upon it
And to honor the dignity of every member of our global family
One planet, one people, one world in harmony
With peace, justice and freedom for all.
-- John Ince

There can be no peace without justice and respect for human rights. I passionately believe in the power of human rights as a set of global values to bring our fractured and divided world together. Around the world human rights activists are giving hope to millions of people - women, indigenous people, the poor and the marginalised - in their struggle for equality and dignity.
-- Irene Khan

"The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

* We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~ Aldo Leopold

* That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.
~ Aldo Leopold

* “We want harmonious development, ... We should work together for more democratic and law-based international relations, and a harmonious environment in which countries respect one another, treat one another as equals, and different cultures can emulate and interchange with each other.”
-- Li Zhaoxing

* ...recognize and respect Earth’s beautiful systems of balance, between the presence of animals on land, the fish in the sea, birds in the air, mankind, water, air, and land. Most importantly there must always be awareness of the actions by people that can disturb this precious balance."
-- Margaret Mead

* "Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples." -- Rigoberta Menchú

* "I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples." -- Rigoberta Menchú

* We are going forward with the idea of a multicultural , a multinational state, trying to live in unity, at the same time respecting our diversity...But we need to all come together so we can live united.
-- Evo Morales

* "There can be no global security without respect for children. We have to be more than just observers of children's suffering, we have to be partners with them in their struggles."
-- Landon Pearson

* Tolerance, respect and patience are acquired skills, they are learned attributes, practiced choices, and until our children begin to study, learn and practice peace, I believe this is as good as it gets.
-- Debbie Robins

Today it is considered as exaggeration to proclaim constant respect for every form of life as being the serious demand of a rational ethic. But the time is coming when people will be amazed that the human race existed so long before it recognized that thoughtless injury to life is incompatible with real ethics. Ethics is in its unqualified form extended responsibility to everything that has life.
-- Albert Schweitzer

“Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them”
-- Albert Schweitzer

Imagine a world where people don't neglect
The beauty of the earth, and treat it with respect.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein

"Peace is more than the absence of war. It is learning to respect ourselves, each other and the planet we share. And it begins with each of us, ONE DAY at a time..."
-- Robert Alan Silverstein

I don't have any understanding of a human being who doesn't respect the beauty of life and that goes for all creatures that have thoughts, feelings and needs.
-- Alicia Silverstone

"I see a world in the future in which we understand that all life is related to us and we treat that life with great humility and respect."
-- David Suzuki

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
~ U Thant

I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not so desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.
-- Henry David Thoreau

We add our voice ... to those who struggle for the recognition and protection for their rights and cultures, because to the extent that we respect our differences, we shall build a life with more justice.
-- Francisco Toledo

We respect the dignity and the rights of every man and every nation. The path to a brighter future of the world leads through honest reconciliation of the conflicting interests and not through hatred and bloodshed. To follow that path means to enhance the moral power of the all-embracing idea of human solidarity.
-- Lech Walesa

"I'm helping to create an economic system that will respect and protect the earth -- one which would replace corporate globalization with a global network of local living economies. Business is beautiful when it's a vehicle for serving the common good."
-- Judy Wicks