Being disrespected is difficult. It makes us angry, sad, hurt, or at the very least frustrated. We all understand what it’s like to be disrespected, but are we consciously aware when we behave in a disrespectful way? A bit of introspection might show that we all have this attitude, at least a little, on occasion.
From some of the world’s best minds, these quotes are about disrespecting ourselves, nature, and others. Reading them and acknowledging them can help us all become more respectful, and teach us to treat ourselves and others with polite respect.
These 55 thought-provoking quotes can point out the ways in which we might be disrespectful or encourage others to be disrespectful.
Disrespect Quotes
- “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” Fyodor Dostoevsky
- You can’t be the dad who takes your kid out after your wife has said, ‘No ice cream,’ buys the ice cream, and says, ‘Don’t tell your mother.’ You teach the child to lie – and to disrespect the other parent.” Howie Mandel
- “Ignoring a child’s disrespect is the surest guarantee that it will continue.” Fred G. Gosman
- “A man who goes into a restaurant and blatantly disrespects the servers shows a strong discontent with his own being. Deep down he knows that restaurant service is the closest thing he will ever experience to being served like a king.” Criss Jami
- “Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” Cesar Chavez
- “If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.” Vironika Tugaleva
- “You can choose to disrespect me but I will not give you permission to hurt my spirit.” Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Don’t let people disrespect you. My mom says don’t open the door to the devil. Surround yourself with positive people.” Cuba Gooding, Jr.
- “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you, and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” Will Smith
- “Intelligence arouses fear and respect, the lack of it keeps one on the narrow-minded road of disrespect, stupidity, and inferiority complex.” Michael Bassey Johnson
- “I want to say a little something that’s long overdue, the disrespect to women has got to be through. To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends, I wanna offer my love and respect till the end..” Adam Yauch
- “Those who disrespect you with their mouth don’t deserve your ear.” Curtis Tyrone Jones
- “Disrespect is my biggest pet peeve.” Bill Goldberg
- “Disrespect is the weapon of the weak.” Alice Miller
- “I’m always gonna be crazy about dishes in the sink. Crazy! Because it’s a sign of disrespect. It says that you think someone else is going to clean up after you: that you’re not prepared to do it yourself.” Lara Logan
- “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” Aristophanes
- “Men are respectable only as they respect.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The eye of true equality often seems to have some degree of disrespect for the supposedly accomplished, privileged high and lofty to the supposedly accomplished, privileged high and lofty, although in reality, it’s simply irrespectiveness.” Criss Jami
- “Marital psychological abuse suffered by a parent can never be understood by disrespectful, ungrateful, growing, biased, brainwashed children.” Angelica Hopes
- “Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.” Leon Trotsky
- “The thing that gave me the most pain in life, psychologically, and it gave me tremendous pain psychologically, is man’s disrespect for nature.” Joni Mitchell
- “True irreverence is disrespect for another man’s god.” Mark Twain
- “Some people console themselves by telling themselves that at least their lover or spouse does not disrespect them enough to cheat on them openly.” Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “Groups like the NAACP, The Anti-Defamation League, NOW and GLAAD, will respond to derisive language directed at their constituents. The price paid by those who cavalierly chose to verbally disrespect the dignity of African Americans, Jews, women and homosexuals is steep.” John C. McGinley
- “I’ve got a good man. He takes care of me. I don’t have to be scared of anything because I know he will kick every ass… disrespect him and you’ve got a problem.” Whitney Houston
- “That I am not a member of any Christian church is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures, and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular.” Abraham Lincoln
- “Disrespect for women grows when religions are dominated by men. … I believe without question that the disrespect for women embodied male-dominated religion is a factor in laws and customs that keep women down.” Melinda Gates
- “I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager, and never, ever your uniform.” Ryne Sandberg
- “I will not speak with disrespect of the Republican Party. I always speak with respect of the past.” Woodrow Wilson
- “I don’t see myself as a stand-up comic doing cynical, mean-spirited or disrespectful stuff. I’m very aware that I don’t like to disrespect people too much.” Tracey Ullman
- “You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “My dad was a plumber. That’s hard work. He never missed a day of work. I will never disrespect him by not showing up for an athletic competition that has a maximum duration of 25 minutes. There should be forfeiture if you have to pull out of a fight. If you don’t show up, it should be a loss on your record.” Chael Sonnen
- “I’m game for a lot of things. But I won’t disrespect myself in any way.” Ginuwine
- “The history of governmentally established religion, both in England and in this country, showed that whenever government had allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had incurred the hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who held contrary beliefs.” Hugo Black
- “You cannot respect someone but disrespect their time.” Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “The essence of American racism is disrespect.” Ta-Nehisi Coates”I treat all women with the utmost respect both professionally and personally and would never do anything to disrespect them.” Ranveer Singh
- “Pity, I knew, was just disrespect wrapped in kindness. I had to address it early, or it would grow unwieldy in time.” Veronica Roth
- “Mysticism has been in the past and probably ever will be one of the great powers of the world, and it is bad scholarship to pretend the contrary. You may argue against it but you should no more treat it with disrespect than a perfectly cultivated writer would treat (say) the Catholic Church or the Church of Luther no matter how much he disliked them.” William Butler Yeats
- “Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own views.” William Hazlitt
- “What I want to say is that nobody is unbeatable. There’s a kid out there who probably wants to beat me. I train hard and try to be the best that I can be, but I don’t disrespect my opponents. I am not disillusioned, either.” Chad le Clos
- “Renunciation is dropping the fear, anger, respect, and disrespect but continuously radiating unconditional love for everyone.” Amit Ray
- “If we continue to create a world where there is poverty and disrespect, there will continue to be terrorism.” Jodie Evans
- “Disrespect for life is a direct reflection of violating the laws of the kingdom of love” Sunday Adelaja
- “Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “I wonder why guys mistreat and disrespect girls. But then they expect life to hand them a good woman when they’re older and ready to settle down?” Angelina Jolie
- “We are all, by nature, clearly oriented toward the basic human values of love and compassion. We all prefer the love of others to their hatred. We all prefer others’ generosity to meanness. And who is there among us who does not prefer tolerance, respect and forgiveness of our failings to bigotry, disrespect, and resentment?” Dalai Lama
- “Never make excuses for someone who disrespects you-who they are or what they do isn’t a pass to treat you like trash!” Trent Shelton
- “My parents made it clear that I should never display even the slightest disrespect to individuals who had the power to let me skip a half grade or move into more challenging classes. While it was all right for me to know more about a topic than my sixth-grade teacher had ever learned, questioning her facts could only lead to trouble.” James D. Watson
- “Have you ever stopped to realize the disrespect that is afoot in our society? From the White House to God’s House, and even Mom’s house… Just remember that disrespect creates distance. How far have we strayed from home?” Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr.
- “There are dangers in sentimentalizing nature. Most sentimental ideas imply, at bottom, a deep if unacknowledged disrespect. It is no accident that we Americans, probably the world’s champion sentimentalizers about nature, are at one and the same time probably the world’s most voracious and disrespectful destroyers of wild and rural countryside.” Jane Jacobs
- “If you want her respect, do not disrespect her feelings.” Gift Gugu Mona
- “Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can’t see when you’re unashamedly looking down on someone.” Criss Jami
- “The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.” Harvey Fierstein
- “Arrogance, disrespect and demand have higher price. Kindness, respect and tact give better prize.” Angelica Hopes
- “One thing I don’t like is when you disrespect the law.” Barack Obama
Video – How to Command Respect Without Being a Jerk
In this extremely popular video, they discuss how to common respect WITHOUT being a jerk. If you want people to respect you, but don’t want to be a jerk, you can learn a lot from Joe Rogan. In this video, they discuss Joe’s approach and what we can learn from it.
Worth a watch!
Related: Ungrateful People Quotes
Summary
Disrespect feels terrible, whether it is aimed at you or at another. Treating ourselves and each other with kindness and respect will make all our relationships better – at home, at work, wherever you are. Few things are more important than self-respect and respect for others.
We can use these quotes to remember the importance of respect every day of our lives. Read them when you are feeling frustrated or angry. Above all, don’t forget why respect is so important – you are happier when you are respectful.
I’m Alice Judy and AnQuotes is a fun hobby for me. We know that everyone loves a great quote and our mission here is simple – to be the best and most interesting quote site in the world! If you have quotes you would like us to cover, please contact us.
