Virtues

"However, as is noted by Klaus Dicke, despite the widespread reference to the notion of dignity, its “legitimizing function .. can only be translated into political or legal reasoning if a set of regulative principles, governing the relationship between dignity and righs, is applied”. In order for dignity to provide meaningful guidance to judges, law-makers (or anyone else) regarding the scope, acceptance and development of concrete rights, including the right to privacy, a number of matters need to be resolved, including the meaning and justification of dignity."

"According to Shcachter (at 849), persons subject to any one of the following conditions are effectively denied their inherent human dignity: (a) persons subject to a life in abject destitution; (b) persons subject to humiliating or degrading conditions of existence; (c) persons whose exercie of basic rights is made dependent upon the benevolence of or arbitrary power by others (as distinct from obtaining their basic entitleents as of right); (d) persons subject to egregious forms of discrimination; and (e) persons denied the capacity to assert their [legal] claims to basic rights."

"Dignity is not expressly mentioned in the US Constitution or the “Canadian Charter of Rigts and Freedoms”. Nevertheless, the courts in the United States have invoked the notion in a bid to justify concrete rights and protections – such as the privilege against self-incrimination and the freedom from cruel punishment – while in Canada it has been declared that the genesis of the rights and freedoms in the Canadian Charter is “respect for the inherent dignity of persons.”. Similarly, the Constitutions of Sweden, Portugal, Spain and Greeze either describe dignity as the basis of political order or place the guarantee of dignity at the head of basic rights. The influence of dignity on rights discourse and on the development of rights-based elgal and constitutinal treatment is so pronounced that it has acquired “a resonance that leads it to be invoked widely as a legal and moral ground for protest against degrading and abusive treatment. No other ideal seems so clearly accepted as a universal social good”."

"There are also numerous State constitutions which employ the notion of human dignity. For example, s 1 of the Finnish Constitution provides: “Finland is a sovereign Republic, the constitution of which shall guarantee the inbiolabilit of human dignity”. The Constitution of South Africa states that the State is founded on 'Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights”. Article 1 of the 1949 German Constitution or Basic Law provides that “the dignity of an shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.” Article 1 of the Brazilian Constitution specifies that Brazil is “a Democratic State and is founded [“inter alia”] on … the dignity of the individual”. Article 20 of the Angolan Constitution specifies that the “State shall respect and protect the human person and uman dignity”. Article 23 of the Belgian Constitution links the right of everyone to “lead a life in conformity with human dignity” to economic, social and cultural rights. Article 6 of the Bulgarian Constitution provides: “All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Article 1 of the Peruvian Constitution of 1993 reads: “The protection of the “human person” and respect for his”dignity” are the supreme goal of society and the State”. And the Hungarian Constitutional Court has described the right to dignity and the right to life as the source and essential content of all other rights."

"Article 10(1) states that “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”."

"The preamble to the “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides: The States Parties to the present Covenant, considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the “inherent dignity” and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, recognizing that these rights derive from the “inherent dignity” of the human person. Article 13 states: The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its “dignity”, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."

"At the international law level, numerous instruments employ the notion of dignity, often according it cardinal status.The concept of dignity gained considerable currency, apparently, as a result of the egregious and widespread abuses that occurred during the Second World War. “The idea of human dignity was decisively strengthened by developments after the Second World War. After the terrible crimes and contempt towards mankind by the Naxis, there was a sudden surge for stronger protection of human dignity”. The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted shortly after the War, states: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. In this regard it has been noted that “it is the concept and term of 'the Inherent Dignity' that carries the whole burden of being the fountainhead fron which the equal rights of man follows which leads us back to the diestic or theistic worldview”. The concept is invoked in several other articles of the document Article 1 provides “All human being are born fee and equal in “dignity” and rights” (emphasis added). Article 22 states: Everyone , as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organizationa dn resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultueral rights indispensable for his “dignity” and the free development of his personality [emphasis added[. Article 23(3) provides: Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself andhis familyan existence worthy of “human dignity”, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection [emphasis added]."

"The concept of dignity is said to underpin not only the righ to privacy, but also a large array of other rights. Globally, it is the ideal which over the past half-century has been most frequently invoked in a bid to shore up a larrge number of rights claims."

"Let us hold fast the great truth, that communities are responsible, as well as individuals; that no government is respectable which is not just. Without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society."

"To assert dignity is to lose it."

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

"Dissent... is a right essential to any concept of the dignity and freedom of the individual; it is essential to the search for truth in a world wherein no authority is infallible."

"[H]uman dignity is innate... Human dignity cannot be taken away by the government... The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away."

"Let's remember our goal. It is not to reeducate the teacher; it is not to express fair anger, it is not "to show everyone that…" No! We need that the sense of dignity remains in our son or daughter — here is our goal!"

"Man — is his dignity."

"There is a boundary between good and evil. Good — is good, evil — is evil, and there is a line between them. It is called the truth. Everything that is higher than this line — is goodness, the extolling of human dignity. Everything that is lower — is evil, destroying human dignity, decreasing its price."

"Nothing is more significant than dignity for adults and children. Everything is related to dignity. The important thing is that there is the highest price for each man and for all men together. This price is - the truth. Therefore all people crave it. People need others to appreciate them by the very highest dignity, by the truth. The genuine price of a man is the truth about him."

"The demeaning of dignity is almost the only reason for a fight."

"Anything which is accomplished through making other people afraid is wrong. Anything which deprives other people of their dignity is wrong."

"Whether you become a daughter, sister, lover, partner, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother, or anything else with complete honesty, the satisfaction you'll find in becoming yourself cannot be found in becoming any of these relative beings"

"Freedom for me is to live with dignity, and if my dignity and freedom is controlled by a man, I will never be free."

"Facilius crescit dignitas quam incipit."

"Once a nation ceases to respect the source of human dignity, it will soon stop respecting the rights that dignity demands."

"It is not from space that I must seek my dignity, but from the government of my thought. I shall have no more if I possess worlds. By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world."

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this."

"Nonviolence is a constant awareness of the dignity and humanity of oneself and others. It seeks truth and justice. It renounces violence, both in method and in attitude. It is a courageous acceptance of active love and goodwill as the instruments with which to overcome evil and transform both oneself and others. It is the willingness to undergo suffering rather than inflict it. It excludes retaliation and flight."

"I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom … the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men."

"All honour comes from God, said Homer of old; he spoke exactly like St Paul, without having plagiarized him. One thing certain is that man cannot impart that indefinable characteristic that is called dignity."

"Dignity is naturally an "aristocratic" virtue, best demonstrated in adverse circumstances, in bearing of suffering, in facing death, childbirth, or the guillotine. Dignity as an attitude is also something personal and not collective. Democratism never liked dignity. Nothing infuriates the howling mob more than dignity."

"I wish you all the pleasurable excitement one can have without hurting others and one's own dignity."

"The thing of courage As rous'd with rage doth sympathise, And, with an accent tun'd in self-same key, Retorts to chiding fortune."

"He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion."

"Muster your wits: stand in your own defence; Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence."

"By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence; For courage mounteth with occasion."

"I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none."

"We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail."

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

"Why, courage then! what cannot be avoided 'Twere childish weakness to lament or fear."

"The smallest worm will turn being trodden on, And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood."

"O, the blood more stirs To rouse a lion than to start a hare!"

"You must not think That we are made of stuff so fat and dull That we can let our beard be shook with danger And think it pastime."

"King Richard: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Catesby: Withdraw, my lord! I'll help you to a horse. King Richard: Slave, I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die."

"Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base, as soon as I."

"If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers."

"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies; but a great deal more to stand up to your friends."

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." …You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."

"Part of having feelings is learning to integrate them into your life, Data, ...learning to live with them. No matter what the circumstances ... Sometimes it takes courage to try, Data. Courage can be an emotion too."

"Leve fit quod bene fertur onus."

"My courage...exists to catch the future! I'll take my future into my own hands. That's what I wish for! For the courage to keep going forward!"