Anonymous

Honour follows those who flee it.

The Bible

New Testament: St Matthew ch.13 v.57

A prophet is not without honour save in his own country.

Brooke Rupert 1887-1915

‘The Dead'

Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
And we have come into our heritage.

Chesterton G.K. 1874-1936

‘A Hymn'

From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord!
Disraeli Benjamin 1804-1881
(on return from Congress of Berlin)
[We] have brought you back peace - but a peace
I hope with honour.

Dostoevsky Fedor 1821-1881

The Brothers Karamazov

Men reject the prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honour those whom they have slain.

Dryden John 1631-1700

Alexander's Feast

War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble.

Emerson Ralph Waldo 1803-1882

The Conduct of Life

The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.

Fuller Margaret 1810-1850

Would that ... a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honour become identical.

Gandhi Mahatma 1869-1948

It is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration.

Gould Gerald 885-1936

Monogamy

And you were very much in love with me,
And half I lured it on, and half I fled it,
Till honour turned its foolish face on mine
Taking for allies music and good wine -
And told me what I ought to say: I said it.

Graham Harry 1874-1936

More Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes
Weep not for little Léonie
Abducted by a French Marquis!
Though loss of honour was a wrench
Just think how it's improved her French.

Jonson Ben c.1573-1637

Volpone

Honour! tut, a breath,
There's no such thing in nature; a mere term
Invented to awe fools.

Kipling Rudyard 1865-1936

‘The Last Chantey'

And Ye take mine honour from me if Ye take away the sea!

Kitchener Lord 1850-1916

(to soldiers of British Expeditionary Force)

You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy ... In this new experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both temptations, and, while treating all women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the king.

Lincoln Abraham 1809-1865

I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked how he liked it he said: ‘if it wasn't for the honour of the thing, I'd rather walk.'

Lippmann Walter 1899-1974

A man has honour if he holds himfel to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable or dangerous to do so.

Lloyd George David 1863-1945

The great peaks of honour we had forgotten - Duty, Patriotism, and - clad in glittering white - the great pinnacle of Sacrifice, pointing like a rugged to Heaven.

Lovelace Richard 1618-1658

‘To Lucasta, Going to the Wars'

True; a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stonger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such,
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not honour more.

McCarthy Eugene

The Senate is the last primitive society in the world. We still worship the elders of the tribe and honour the territorial imperative.

Marlowe Christopher 1564-1593

Tamburlaine the Great

Virtue is the fount whence honour springs.

Marx Grouncho 1895-1977

in Duck Soup

"Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honour ... which is probably more than she ever did."

Nelson Horatio Lord 1758-1805

(when asked to cover the stars on his uniform)

In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.

Newbolt Sir Henry 1862-1938

‘Clifton Chapel'

To set the cause above renown,
To love the game beyond the prize,
The honour, while you strike him down,
The foe that comes with fearless eyes.

Pagnol Marcel 1895-1974

Marius

Honour is like a match, you can only use it once.

Pope Alexander 1688-1744

Epistles to Several Persons ‘To a Lady'

Still round and round the ghosts of Beauty glide,
And haunt the places where their honour died.
See how the world its veterans rewards!
A youth of frolics, and old age of cards.

Proverbs and Sayings

Arab
God sells knowledge for labour - honour for risk.

Racine Jean 1639-1699

Les Plaideurs

Honour, without money, is just a disease.

Russell Lord John 1792-1878

If peace cannot be maintained with honour, it is no longer peace.

Schopenhauer Arthur 1788-1860

Fame is something which must be won; honour is something which must not be lost.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Henry IV, Part 1

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set-to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Macbeth

I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Richard II

Take honour from me, and my life is done.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Troilus and Cressida
Perseverance, dear my lord,
Keeps honour bright: to have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail
In monumental mockery.

Spender Sir Stephen 1909-1995

Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

Tennyson Alfred Lord 1809-1892

Idylls of the King ‘Lancelot and Elaine'
His honour rooted in dishonour stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

Tennyson Alfred Lord 1809-1892

‘Locksley Hall'

But the jingling of the guinea helps the hurt that Honour feels.

Wolf Marcus

(at his trial)

Your honour is not my honour.

Honour quotes, honour quotations