Real Self

"Self-respect should dominate every expression of the individual, from the mere matter of personal appearance and dress to the most supreme manifestation of his real self in all the relations of life. It has greater reverence for its individuality, rightly directed, than for all its rights, powers, influence, or possessions. Self-respect, in the highest sense, …

Continue reading Real Self

The Secret Spring

"There are men whose self-respect seems to have died or gone on a long vacation. Revive that self-respect, and you begin the moral regeneration of the man. Religion itself never really reaches a man until it touches the secret spring of his self-respect. One of the chief causes of making confirmed criminals out of first …

Continue reading The Secret Spring

A Certain Reserve

"There is a certain reserve in self-respect, a reverence for the fine dignity of the individual self, which keeps man from taking the whole world into his confidence. His real, deeper self he keeps for those who are nearest and dearest. There are men and women who, at the first meeting, as mere casual acquaintances, …

Continue reading A Certain Reserve

The Armor of Self-Respect

"Self-respect realizes that no one but himself can degrade the individual. The undeserved insult which may sting for a moment he forgets quickly in the thought that it is only a revelation of the character of the source from which it comes; that he himself is invulnerable from insult when he is right, when the …

Continue reading The Armor of Self-Respect

The Ultimate Safeguard

"The man whose self-respect safeguards him never takes undue advantage. There is a strain of fine chivalry which runs through it all. The secret of another is as secure from discovery as though it was a pebble thrown into the sea. He would be above using it as a weapon, even of defense, no matter …

Continue reading The Ultimate Safeguard

A Double Justice

"Self-respect has red blood; it has no fear. It makes the individual respect the rights of others fully, freely, firmly, and demand that his own be equally respected. He realizes that self-respect is a double justice, to himself and to others... Retaliation and revenge are so far beneath him that he would not soil his …

Continue reading A Double Justice

The Days of the Duel

"Self-respect meets attacks squarely, as a man should do; but it wields an honest sword. It fights in the open, and scorns to win victory by a treacherous thrust. It is a hard fighter; but it fights by the code and will stand up for the rights and honour of the individual as courageously and …

Continue reading The Days of the Duel

The Right Emphasis

That which you emphasize determines in large measure the nature of your experience. When you are grooming or clothing yourself, for example, it might be worth looking at whether you spend more time covering up that which you don't like or if the greater part of your emphasis is on highlighting that which you do. …

Continue reading The Right Emphasis

He who has self-respect

"He who has self-respect has a fine contempt for whatever is low, petty, mean, or vulgar. He is like a modern elevator with an automatic safety clutch; if he does drop, he cannot fall far. He quickly stops himself. No matter what the provocation, how deep the cause for righteous anger, he will never humiliate …

Continue reading He who has self-respect

Self-respect

"The man who has self-respect realizes that the severest punishment he could have for a mean act would be his own consciousness that he has lowered himself in his own eyes, that he has done an act unworthy of himself. He realizes that it counts but little whether the world knows of it or not—he …

Continue reading Self-respect