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Shame Quotes

Browse 2566 quotes about Shame.

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Shame Quotes

“I like owls. I admire their intransigent spirit. I have respected them deeply ever since I met a baby owl in a wood, when it fell over dead, apparently from sheer temper, because I dared to approach it. It defied me first, and then died. I have never forgotten the horror and shame I experienced when that soft fluffy thing (towards which I had nothing but the most humanitarian motives) fell dead from rage at my feet.”

FirstsSpiritFeetBabyMetsHorrorApproachDiedShameForgottenWoodsHumanitarianRageAdmireMotiveTemperSheerOwlFluffy
Author:Vita Sackville-West
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“God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries His choicest wines to the lips of humanity to rejoice their hearts, to exalt their vision, to strengthen their faith, and if we had stood by when two little nations [Belgium and Serbia] were being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbarians, our shame would have rung down the everlasting ages.”

IfsHeartLittlesTwoWarHandsAgeHumanityNationsVisionBrokenShameWineLipsChosenCarrieRejoiceBrutalEverlastingVesselCrushedBarbariansBelgiumSerbia
Author:David Lloyd George
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“Plants do everything animals do, but slowly. They migrate, communicate, deceive, stalk their food and, with an ostentation of styles and perfumes to put the animal kingdom to shame, they make love. It's just that catching them in flagrante delicto might require time-lapse photography.”

MightAnimalStylePhotographyShamePlantCommunicateKingdomsDeceivingMaking LovePerfumeCatchingStalkingLapsesAnimal KingdomOstentationMigrateTime Lapse
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“Vain-glorious man, when fluttering wind does blow In his light wing's, is lifted up to sky; The scorn of-knighthood and true chivalry. To think, without desert of gentle deed And noble worth, to be advanced high, Such praise is shame, but honour, virtue's meed, Doth bear the fairest flower in honourable seed.”

ThinkingMenDoeLightVirtueSkyWindFlowerBearsPraiseShameWingsBlowDeedsSeedsNobleDesertVainGentleGloriousHonourNobilityScornChivalryFlutteringKnighthood
Book:Books I and II of the Faerie queene: the mutability cantos, and selections from the minor poetry
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“Happy season of virtuous youth, when shame is still an impassable barrier, and the sacred air-cities of hope have not shrunk into the mean clay hamlets of reality; and man, by his nature, is yet infinite and free.”

MenMeanStillsRealityCitiesAirYouthSeasonsInfiniteShameSacredBarriersVirtuousClayCastles In The Air
Book:Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh : in Three Books
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“Have charity; have patience; have mercy. Never bring a human being, however silly, ignorant, or weak--above all, any little child--to shame and confusion of face. Never by petulance, by suspicion, by ridicule, even by selfish and silly haste--never, above all, by indulging in the devilish pleasure of a sneer--crush what is finest and rouse up what is coarsest in the heart of any fellow-creature.”

HumansHeartChildrenLittlesFacesHuman BeingsPleasureCreaturesWeakMercyShameFellowsCharitySelfishSillyIgnorantConfusionCrushSuspicionFinestRidiculeHasteHaving PatienceSneerDevilishPetulance
Book:Daily Thoughts (EasyRead Super Large 18pt Edition)
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“Shame is the proper reaction when one has purposefully violated the accepted behavior of society. Inflicting it is etiquette's response when its rules are disobeyed. The law has all kinds of nasty ways of retaliating when it is disregarded, but etiquette has only a sense of social shame to deter people from treating others in ways they know are wrong. So naturally Miss Manners wants to maintain the sense of shame. Some forms of discomfort are fully justified, and the person who feels shame ought to be dealing with removing its causes rather than seeking to relieve the symptoms.”

PeopleKnowsWayWantFeelsKindPersonsFormLawSocialCausesMissingOughtBehaviorShameResponseSeekingAcceptedReactionsAll KindsMannersNastySymptomsJustifiedDiscomfortEtiquetteDisregardedTreating OthersMiss Manners
Book:Miss Manners Rescues Civilization: From Sexual Harassment, Frivolous Lawsuits, Dissing, and Other Lapses in Civility
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“Let the words of a virgin, though in a good cause, and to as good purpose, be neither violent, many, nor first, nor last; it is less shame for a virgin to be lost in a blushing silence than to be found in a bold eloquence.”

FirstsLastsPurposeFoundLostCausesSilenceShameViolentVirginsEloquenceBlushingGood Causes
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
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“Things temporal are sweeter in the expectation, things eternal are sweeter in the fruition; the first shames thy hope, the second crowns it; it is a vain journey, whose end affords less pleasure than the way.”

WayFirstsEndsPleasureJourneyEternalExpectationsShameVainAnticipationCrownsFruition
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
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“Instead of casting away all our old prejudices, we cherish them to a very considerable degree, and, to take more shame to ourselves, we cherish them because they are prejudices; and the longer they have lasted and the more generally they have prevailed, the more we cherish them. We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages.”

MenReasonAgeIndividualNationsDegreesPrejudiceShameTradeSuspectsCherishCasting
Author:Edmund Burke
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“laughter, that distinctively human emotion, laughter which springs from trust in the other, from willingness to put oneself momentarily in the other's place, even at one's own expense, is the special emotional basis of democratic procedures, just as pride is the emotion of an aristocracy, shame of a crowd that rules, and fear of a police state.”

HumansStatesEmotionDemocracySpecialEmotionalPrideSpringLaughterBasesPoliceShameDemocraticOneselfCrowdsExpensesWillingnessProceduresAristocracyPolice StateHuman Emotions
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Poverty is, except where there is an actual want of food and raiment, a thing much more imaginary than real. The shame of poverty--the shame of being thought poor--it is a great and fatal weakness, though arising in this country, from the fashion of the times themselves.”

WantRealCountryPoorPovertyFashionWeaknessShameImaginary
Book:Advice to Young Men - And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject.
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“There is seemingly no biological benefit to acting with conscience; if there were, only moral individuals would survive and procreate. Sadly, we know that's not true. The benefit of conscience is that you won't suffer guilt (private) or shame (public), and that by your own self-imposed definition, you are a moral human, a special kind of animal who takes unique pride in elevating him/herself above the termites.”

IfsKnowsHumansKindSelfSufferingIndividualAnimalActingMoralSpecialPrideBenefitsUniqueConscienceShameGuiltDefinitionsElevating
Book:How Could You Do That?!: Abdication of Character, Courage, Consci
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“Let us consider how great a commodity of doctrine exists in books; how easily, how secretly, how safely they expose the nakedness of human ignorance without putting it to shame. These are the masters who instruct us without rods and ferules, without hard words and anger, without clothes or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if investigating you interrogate them, they conceal nothing; if you mistake them, they never grumble; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh at you.”

IfsHumansBookHardMistakeLaughingIgnoranceMastersApproachClothesShameDoctrineIgnorantInstructionCommodityInvestigatingHard Words
Book:Philobiblon: A Treatise on the Love of Books
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