“... Enright’s developmental theorizing emphasizes that reasoning about the use of forgiveness appears to mature as people age, with the lowest levels of maturity reflecting the idea that forgiveness is appropriate only after revenge has been obtained or after restitution has been made. As people’s moral reasoning develops, their reasoning about forgiveness becomes oriented toward viewing forgiveness as an unconditional gift given to transgressors based on the belief in the innate value of all persons.”
Source: Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification
“From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value because they bear the image of the Maker of heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.”
Source: U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
“The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.”
Source: U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
“As all the other beliefs and practices assume less and less religious a character, the individual becomes the object of a sort of religion. We carry on the worship of the dignity of the human person, which, like all strong acts of worship, has already acquired its superstitions.”
Source: The Division of Labor in Society
“Lo que te degrada es el hecho de arrodillarte en sí. Pero no te humillas cuando te arrodillas por alguien que se merece tu dignidad.”
Source: The Kiss Thief
“When dignity and ethics become a part of our lives, we become a part of rebalancing society. When we move beyond what controls us, we take control of our lives.”
Source: Conscious Cures: Soulutions to 21st Century Pandemics
“Only sign of sanity is in mad humanity. Stand tall o brave, as an epitome of integrity.”
Source: Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth
“A human being should never become a means to an end.”
Source: Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything
“Only those who value self-knowledge over self-satisfaction can achieve wisdom, only those who value self-perfection over "self-fulfilment" can retain dignity, and only those who value self-discipline over self-indulgence can enjoy liberty.”
“But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subjected to dehumanization treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and their circumstances in which they are forced to live.”
Source: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption