Quotes about Dignity

Jesus honored the dignity of people, whether he agreed with them or not. He would not found his kingdom on the basis of race or class or other such divisions.

a sick person is not a sick person, but rather a person of worth and value who happens to have some bodily parts that are not functioning well.

Make it so the poor are no longer despised and thrown away. Look at them standing about — like wildflowers, which have nowhere else to grow.

Homeless people bear God's image too.

Democracy requires us to recognize others' rights even when we fundamentally disagree with them. It requires a civility in which I respect a person's ultimate worth and seek to persuade but not to coerce.

Dr. Eric Cassell, an internist at Cornell University, concluded about his patients, "If I had to pick the aspect of illness that is most destructive to the sick, I would choose the loss of control.

Alcoholics Anonymous discovered long ago that the path toward cure involves more than a quick-fix solution based on increased knowledge. In fact, it involves a change that seems more theological than educational. Somehow the "victim" of addictive behavior must regain an underlying sense of human dignity and choice, a profound reawakening that usually requires much time, attention, and love.

The issue is not whether I agree with someone but rather how I treat someone with whom I profoundly disagree.

And above all, we must reduce drug use for one great moral reason: Over time, drugs rob men, women and children of their dignity, and of their character. Illegal (and legal) drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope. And when we fight against drugs, we fight for the souls of our fellow Americans

When speaking to or about another person, ask yourself if what you are about to say will meet their need: Necessary — Is it necessary to say this? Encourage — Will this encourage? Will it make them feel better? Edify — Will it edify? Will it build them up and make them stronger as a result of what you would say? Dignify — Will it dignify that person? That's the way Jesus treated other people; he gave them a sense of dignity. Criticism

Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew. To not forgive leads to bitterness and hatred. Like self-hatred and self-contempt, hatred of others gnaws away at our vitals. Whether hatred is projected out or stuffed in, it is always corrosive to the human spirit.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.