We honor the values, the people, and the beliefs that we believe should be acknowledged and respected. And as individuals, we are honorable beings in our own simple ways—even without the public’s validation. With that said, here are 156 quotes about honor that will inspire you to live an honorable life.
Quotes About Honor
1. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. – Calvin Coolidge
2. The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be, all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them. – Socrates
3. Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself. – Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Treat your enemies with courtesy, and you’ll see how valuable it really is. It costs little but pays a nice dividend: those who honor are honored. Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing. – Baltasar Gracian
5. He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so. – Walter Lippmann
6. Be noble minded! Our own heart, and not other men’s opinions of us, forms our true honor. – Friedrich Schiller
7. Honor is simply the morality of superior men. – H. L. Mencken
8. Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost. – Arthur Schopenhauer
9. Honor does not have to be defended. – Robert J. Sawyer
10. Our own heart, and not other men’s opinion, forms our true honor. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
11. Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity without damage. It is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a single flaw. – Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
12. When honor comes to you, be ready to take it; But reach not to seize it before it is near. – John Boyle O’Reilly
13. Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest. – Baron de Montesquieu
14. Honor is not the appendage of any social class. It is a way of life which may be freely chosen by any man or women, regardless of race, color, or creed. – T. Braxton Woody
15. You can abandon your own body, but never let go of your honor. – Miyamoto Musashi
16. Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it. – Akhenaton
17. Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor. – Joseph Addison
18. True honor is an outflow from a heart that fears God. – John Bevere
19. Honor must start in the heart, but if it ends there, it isn’t honor. Honor must be expressed through words, symbols, actions, or gestures. Honor is among the most incarnational of the virtues. It must have feet and hands. – Douglas Wilson
20. Who sows virtue reaps honor. – Leonardo da Vinci
21. Smears are not only to be expected but fought. Honor is to be earned, not bought. – Margaret Chase Smith
22. Honour may not win power, but it wins respect. And respect earns power. – Mitsunari Ishida
23. Without integrity and honor, having everything means nothing. – Robin Sharma
24. Humility forms the basis of honor, just as the low ground forms the foundation of a high elevation. – Bruce Lee
25. Honor was never taking the easy way when it was also the wrong one. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself. Protecting the weak and helpless; standing fast even when fear made you weak. Keeping your word. – Mercedes Lackey
26. You always have a choice. Don’t ever imagine you don’t. Whatever you do, it’s a decision and you have to accept responsibility for it. That’s when honor becomes more than empty words. – Lynn Flewelling
27. Honor is honesty to what is, not blind duty to what you wish to be. – Terry Goodkind
28. Honor is no phantom. Duty doesn’t melt away, no matter how much we might wish it to. – Claudia J. Edwards
29. Service to others in their time of need is a privilege and an honor. – Harley King
30. A man of honor does swiftly that which must be done. – Susan Kearney
31. A gentleman protects secrets. A man of honor protects the truth. – Mekael Shane
32. If you think your honor demands you kill every dog that barks at you…you will only find yourself spending all your time chasing dogs. There is no honor in that. – Dorothy Hoobler
33. A life of honor offers abundant rewards; a life of dishonor comes at a very steep price. – Frank Sonnenberg
34. Honor is a complex and important matter best served by doing the right thing. – Mark Helprin
35. Honor is the only code we uphold and I would die for it. – Jessica Leake
36. Glory is as easy to grasp as a dagger. It draws attention to its bearer like a blade flashing in the sun. Honor, on the other hand, requires discipline and compassion and self-respect. It often works silently, without recognition or the desire for it. Honor comes only after years of effort and, once grasped, is even more difficult to hold. – Abu Bakr
37. Never offer an oath lightly. For you pledge not only your life and sacred honor, but your people’s honor as well. To break an oath is to be without honor, to be without a spirit, and to be apart from the people. – Raymond E. Feist
38. For those who die with honor, the touch of death is simply the unlocking of a door between this life and the next. – Graeme Rodaughan
39. All aspects of honor derive from honesty. A liar cannot truly be honorable, for where is the honor in deception? – Keith R.A. DeCandido
40. Honor lies in honest toil. – Grover Cleveland
41. Honor is self-esteem made visible in action. – Ayn Rand
42. Honor — it was transitory and subjective, and often directly opposed to practicality. – Amanda Downum
43. Honor ought to be given to virtue and not to riches. – Anacharsis
44. Men honor men who honor their fellow men. – Ken Alstad
45. Honor is infinitely more valuable than positions of honor. – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
46. We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you. – Mary Kay Ash
47. Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are. – Thomas Carlyle
48. Successful or not, acts of physical courage always bring honor. It is the smaller forms of valor – standing up for principle at the risk of social disapproval, economic loss or injury to career – that require the greatest moral will power. Since there is usually little upside to winning and a significant and often lasting downside to losing, moral courage often requires as much character as physical bravery. – Michael Josephson
49. For me, commitment boils down to honor. – Ian Somerhalder
50. Concepts of integrity and heroism and honor are still important to the world today. Some people behave well, and some people behave badly. – Oliver Stone
51. The first thing you must learn is to always treat a man and a woman with total respect and honor, ’cause if you do that, the legacy you will leave behind will be work. – Wyclef Jean
52. Let your ways and actions be in honor of Christ. – Sunday Adelaja
53. Honor is a balancing act and only the heart can strike that balance. – Stefan Emunds
54. Courage is winning small battles with great honor. – Nathan S. Colestock
55. Honor always comes at a price, else it would be worthless. – Michelle Griep
56. Honor doesn’t revise according to company just as integrity doesn’t diminish due to circumstance. – Donna Lynn Hope
57. Honour was like a coat: sometimes one did not have time to put it on. – Adrian Tchaikovsky
58. Every day, live in a way that honors who you are. – A.D. Posey
59. Without honor, a knight is no more than a common killer. It is better to die with honor than to live without it. – George R.R. Martin
60. Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong. – Thomas Jefferson
61. A Christian sees all men as made in the image of God. All are sinners too, which means that the image is marred, but it is a divine image nonetheless, capable of redemption and therefore to be held in honor. – Elisabeth Elliot
62. Some live in poverty but with their honor; some live in wealth but with no honor! Some lives are respectable, some are disgraceful! – Mehmet Murat ildan
63. Honor is Surplus Dignity: Honor, at its simplest, is that excess dignity that must be defended with the knife or sword. Wherever honor is at issue, it comes with a sense that dignity can be lost, and therefore must be constantly defended. – David Graeber
64. Keep to your precious honor. Rather die than sully it. There is only honor in a man’s life and the rest is meaningless gibberish. – Alaric Longward
65. “Honor,” she said, “is the coin that stays in your pocket when all your silver has been spent.” – Craig Schaefer
66. Living your life with honor
Brings forth friends
You didn’t know you had
– Frank Julius
67. Honor is the only thing that separates us from animals. – Peter Tieryas
68. The most assured way of gaining maximum respect, is to permanently become a person of great honor. – Edmond Mbiaka
69. I, too, shall seek honor. But I shall seek it where I know it will be found. – Lloyd Alexander
70. Everything that she valued had come to her through change, and through change she would one day lose everything. All except honor. – Deborah J. Ross
71. There is no honor in cruelty. – Jocelyn Murray
72. When honor dies—when trust is a useless thing—what use is life? – Diane Duane
73. I take things like honor and loyalty seriously. It’s more important to me than any materialistic thing or any fame I could have. – Lloyd Banks
74. I think there’s so much honor and integrity and beauty in being able to be who you are. – Sara Bareilles
75. The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. – Samuel Smiles
76. If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul. – William Shakespeare
77. If honor were profitable, everybody would be honorable. – Thomas More
78. Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience. – Michel de Montaigne
79. Keep your word. Honor commitments, and they will double back to honor you. – Bill Rancic
80. Honor is the presence of God in man. – Pat Conroy
81. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is. – Hermann Hesse
82. Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a trial of his work and its endurance of it. So it is with God. It honors Him when His saints preserve their integrity. – Charles Spurgeon
83. There is an honor to what we do, and there are no shortcuts. – Cody Rhodes
84. Honor is the reward of virtue. – Marcus Tullius Cicero
85. Honor and shame from no condition rise. Act well your part: there all the honor lies. – Alexander Pope
86. The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor. – Zora Neale Hurston
87. Honor is like a match, you can only use it once. – Marcel Pagnol
88. What I am doing; how I am being as I am doing it; and does it bring honor to my community? What is the lesson in what I am doing? And most importantly, am I having fun? – Iyanla Vanzant
89. The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one’s inner power. – Xun Kuang
90. I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor. – Pierre Corneille
91. Favor and honor sometimes fall more fitly on those who do not desire them. – Livy
92. A man’s vanity tells him what is honor, a man’s conscience what is justice. – Walter Savage Landor
93. Without money honor is merely a disease. – Jean Racine
94. You can be deprived of your money, your job and your home by someone else, but remember that no one can ever take away your honor. – William Lyon Phelps
95. Honor wears different coats to different eyes. – Barbara W. Tuchman
96. Everybody needs money, but I’m a fighter. For what I make, I’m happy with what I make. The money is not everything; it’s about honor. – Rafael dos Anjos
97. I have found that the more I honored others, the more they honored me and the more fulfilling my career became. In the business arena, I have been surrounded by people with awesome skills. The difference between good and great is determined by the mindset you choose to bring to the work. The concept of honor should be part of that mindset. – Douglas Conant
98. It’s always strange to get an honor from people who are the ones that should be honored. – Nancy Dubuc
99. The best way to honor someone who has passed is to live. – Marvin Sapp
100. Honor is not what you say. Honor is what you do. – Pierce Brown
101. Tell my brother to remember his heart in all things. That is where his honor and his destiny will be found. Tell him. – Libba Bray
102. In this world, there must be a certain degree of honor just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without honor, there will always be some others who bear in themselves the honor of many men. – Jose Marti
103. And if your life is a suitable exchange for my honor, why is my honor not a suitable exchange for your life? – Diana Gabaldon
104. Defeat held no honor. – Johanna Lindsey
105. Honor is for the living. Dead is dead. – Drew Karpyshyn
106. That nothing’s so sacred as honor and nothing’s so loyal as love. – Wyatt Earp
107. Whilst weakness and timidity keep us to our duty, virtue has often all the honor. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
108. If you be faithful, you will have that honor that comes from God: his Spirit will say in your hearts, Well done, good and faithful servants. – Adam Clarke
109. The law often permits what honor prohibits. – Bernard-Joseph Saurin
110. It is a luxury to put our interests first. It is an honor to put the interests of others be; our own. – Simon Sinek
111. It wasn’t the reward that mattered or the recognition you might harvest. It was your depth of commitment, your quality of service, the product of your devotion – these were the things that counted in life. When you gave purely, the honor in giving, and that was honor enough. – Scott O’Grady
112. Losing your honor in a person’s eye is tantamount losing it for entire humanity. – Anum Sattar
113. We can honor our emotions after any traumatic event by moving through the experience centered in the heart with the goal of reaching the light on the other side. – Molly Friedenfeld
114. True honor does not crave recognition, as true wisdom craves not publicity. The great heroes and the great men of wisdom walk silently through the bypaths of mankind. – Dagobert D. Runes
115. Break every chain of mediocrity that confines you. You may have begun at a level below average, but dare to leave that side and paddle your steps to cross the river with honours. – Israelmore Ayivor
116. A truly honorable person, would never convince another to stray, from their personal pursuit of honor. No, only one lacking this noble quality would try to justify and market, an existence without it. – Justin K. McFarlane Beau
117. “A dwarf will fight for honor, but a man will kill for pride.” Auron thought for a moment. “What’s the difference?” “Honor is how others see you. Pride is how you see yourself.” – E.E. Knight
118. Honor is venerable to us because it is no ephemeris. It is always ancient virtue. We worship it today because it is not of today. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
119. Honor is kind of what you get when you weaponize manners. – Jasper Fforde
120. Maybe honor was in its twilight. Maybe it had always been heading that way. Or worse, maybe it had always been an illusion. – Dennis Lehane
121. Those who boast about honor shouldn’t lack in it. – Drake R. Todd
122. As for men, they must learn bravery and live for Pleasure and for Beauty. More important than those two things should stand only one thing for him… Honor. A man’s honor should be more sacred to him than his life — especially in our age, a time when very few men know what honor is. – Roman Payne
123. “The honor a man carries in his heart cannot be explained, lass,” he said slowly. “Nor can you measure the courage of a man who will not betray his friends, even though he faces disaster himself. We’ve no right to question, unless we have known the same dilemma and acquitted ourselves with the same integrity.” – Jan Cox Speas
124. It is better to lack the semblance of honor but possess it than to possess the semblance and lack the honor. – Lynn Flewelling
125. There’s an undeniable healing power in telling the truth to someone who validates you by simply listening . . . honor washes away the stench of shame. – Jo Ann Fore
126. Act well your part,
there all the honor lies.
– Edgar Lee Masters
127. There is no honor in seeking praise for doing that which is expected of you. – T.F. Hodge
128. A moment of truth is very powerful. Instead of smiling to be polite, just frown. Instead of laughing when you are nervous or uncomfortable, just speak your truth. Instead of acting like everything is all right, proclaim it isn’t alright, and talk about your feelings! Honor your truth. Honor yourself. Be real. – Bryant McGill
129. It’s important to understand that while honor is an entitlement to respect–and shame comes when you lose that title–a person of honor cares first of all not about being respected but about being worthy of respect. – Kwame Anthony Appiah
130. Virtue is the fount whence honor springs. – Christopher Marlowe
131. To be inspired is great, but to inspire is an honor. – Stacey T. Hunt
132. Honor bright! Fair play is a jewel! – E.D.E.N. Southworth
133. It is not what a man is capable of doing, but what he chooses to do that is important. – Honor Raconteur
134. No man of honor avoided what needed to be done, simply because it might not proceed in his favor. – Claire Delacroix
135. There is no honor in sending men to die for something you won’t even fight for yourself. – Mark Owen
136. Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. – Winston Churchill
137. The essence of honor lay in the moment of combat between equals. – Dan Simmons
138. I have a huge and savage conscience that won’t let me get away with things. – Octavia E. Butler
139. There was no honor in war, less in killing, and none in dying. But there was true dignity in how men comported themselves in battle. And there was always honor to be found in standing for a just cause and defending the defenseless. – Michael Scott
140. Everyone has a story to tell, and in a perfect world, everyone would get the opportunity to tell it. Some of us have the stories, some of us have the words, and some of us have both. Let’s honor the portions we bring to the table and give credit where credit is due. – Rebecca Serle
141. Knowing honor, but clinging to disgrace, you become the valley of the world. – Laozi
142. Honor, publicly, results in influence, privately. – Craig Groeschel
143. It was just him and me. He fought with honor. If it weren’t for his honor, he and the others would have beaten me together. They might have killed me, then. His sense of honor saved my life. I didn’t fight with honor . . . I fought to win. – Orson Scott Card
144. No one ever lost his honor, except he who had it not. – Publilius Syrus
145. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that’s pretty good. – Michael Oher
146. To die with honor when one can no longer live with honor. – John Luther Long
147. Honor the image of God. Human beings are not accidents, but creations. – Timothy Keller
148. The law of honor: Go along only on the paths of honor. Fight, and never be a coward. Leave the path of infamy to others. Better to fall in an honorable fight than win by infamy. – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
149. We must remember how to honor and respect life with each breath, step, word, and thought. What you bless blesses you in return. This is the power of reciprocity. – Sandra Ingerman
150. You need to know that you can’t honor God when you’re chained to the voice and opinions of man. – Tyler Perry
151. Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. – Jentezen Franklin
152. Of men who have a sense of honor, more come through alive than are slain, but from those who flee comes neither glory nor any help. – Homer
153. If there is one word that describes the meaning of character, it is the word honor. Without honor, civilization would not long exist. Without honor, there could be no dependable contracts, no lasting marriages, no trust or happiness. What does the word honor mean to you? To me, honor is summarized in this expression by the poet Tennyson, “Man’s word [of honor] is God in man.” – Ezra Taft Benson
154. Live with honor and follow your conscience. – Benigno Aquino, Jr.
155. From long familiarity, we know what honor is. It is what enables the individual to do right in the face of complacency and cowardice. It is what enables the soldier to die alone, the political prisoner to resist, the singer to sing her song, hardly appreciated, on a side street. – Mark Helprin
156. Any honor is an honor. You can’t really say which one is better than the next, but it’s always wonderful when you’re honored by your peers for your work. – David Bryan