We’ve gathered up 87 sayings on disrespectful behavior—from you disrespected me quotes to quotes about the best way to respond.
Make a note of the ones that stand out for you and use them to discern your boundaries regarding rude behavior from others.
1. “When you tolerate disrespectful people you disrespect yourself.” ― Wayne Gerard Trotman
2. “Never disrespect anyone. Pride comes before a thunderous fall.” ― Don Santo
3. “You least obtain something great from the great thing you regard as least though such great thing can give you something great” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
4. “Disrespect is the weapon of the weak.” — Alice Miller
5. “You don’t have to disrespect and insult others simply to hold your own ground. If you do, that shows how shaky your own position is.” –Red Haircrow
6. “If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody’s supposed to respect you?” — Aretha Franklin
7. “People disrespect you for two reasons; to gain your respect towards them and to bargain your trust towards them.” ― J. Ruby
8. “No matter what the reason, if you start to scream and shout, you look a fool, and you feel a fool, and you earn the disrespect of everyone.” — Michael Caine
9. “A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” –Bill Watterson
10. “Only once in my life was I on the edge of incivility. I do not like to be unkind.” –David Rockefeller
11. “Respect depicts acceptance while disrespect is rejection.” –Fawad Afzal Khan
12. “I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.” –Edward Gibbon
13. “True irreverence is disrespect for another man’s God.” –Mark Twain
14. “Rudeness luxuriates in the absence of self-respect.” — Eric Hoffer
15. “Ideological differences are no excuse for rudeness.” – Judith Martin
16. “Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17. “I believe if you are nice to people, children will follow. Likewise, if you are rude to people, children will follow.” — Wendi Deng Murdoch
18. “Discomfort is understandable. It’s the rudeness that isn’t.” ― N.K. Jemisin
19. “If they disrespect you to your face imagine what they’re doing behind your back.” — Sonya Parker
20. “Disrespect cannot be commanded, it must be earned.” — Matthew Taberner
21. “Never make excuses for someone who disrespects you-who they are or what they do isn’t a pass to treat you like trash!” –Trent Shelton
22. “You don’t have permission to disrespect yourself.” — Martin De Maat
23. “Men are respectable only as they respect.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
24. “If we have no respect for our viewers, then how can we have any respect for ourselves and what we do?” –Christiane Amanpour
25. “There cannot be greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse.” –John Locke
26. “No one is more insufferable than he who lacks basic courtesy.” — Bryant McGill
27. “If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.” –Vironika Tugaleva
28. “Those who disrespect you with their mouth don’t deserve your ear.” –Curtis Tyrone Jones
29. “Disagreement is one thing; disrespect is quite another.” –Richard V. Reeves
30. “Disrespect for life is a direct reflection of violating the laws of the kingdom of love.” — Sunday Adelaja
31. “Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can’t see when you’re unashamedly looking down on someone.” –Criss Jami
32. “Disrespect adheres to the ignorant; like wet leaves, breathed, on cold skin.” –Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann
33. “Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own, and that of other people.” –Leon Trotsky
34. “Nothing in the history of humankind has been disrespected as much as nature.” –M.F. Moonzajer
35. “I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority.” — Rita Mae Brown
36. “I don’t do nothing to disrespect the fans.” — Romeo Santos
37. “Don’t take things personally. But don’t condone disrespect.” — Izey Victoria Odiase
38. “There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.” –Henri Frederic Amielect.
39. “A woman brought you into this world, so you have no right to disrespect one.” — Tupac Shakur
40. “We disrespect ourselves and our free-will whenever we say that we need to do something.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
41. “If you can’t treat me like I’m someone important, then please don’t disrespect me.” — Wazim Shaw
42. “I have a strong disrespect for authority and for rules. Including gravity. Gravity sucks.” — Sebastian Thrun
43. “We strongly condemn any disrespect to human bodies regardless of whether they are those of enemies or friends.” — Karim Rahimi
44. “Our disrespect for thinking: someone sitting in a chair, gazing out of a window blankly, always described as ‘doing nothing’.” — Alain de Botton
45. “Contempt is the only way to triumph over calmuny.” — Francoise d’Aubigne
46. “Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people’s happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.” — Bertrand Russell
47. “The way to avoid imputation of impudence is not to be ashamed of what we do, but never to do what we aught to be ashamed of.” — Tully
48. “When people don’t respect one another seldom is there honesty.” — Shannon L. Alder
49. “There is no mobility with bad manners.” — Ali Ibn Abi Talib
50. “The insolence of time is like a blow in the face from an unseen enemy.” — Margaret Deland
51. “There is an insolence which none but those who themselves deserve contempt can bestow, and those only who deserve no contempt can bear.” — Henry Fielding
52. “If you can’t ignore an insult, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh it off; and if you can’t laugh it off, it’s probably deserved.” — Russel Lynes
53. “Sometimes what you see of a person is only what they want you to see. But if you disrespect that part, you will see all of you.” — Robert Black
54. “Do not be threatened by rude people because rudeness is a sign of insecurity.” ― Gift Gugu Mona
55. “There can be disagreement without disrespect,” — Dean Jackson
56. “Good manners are appreciated as much as bad manners are abhorred.” ― Bryant McGill
57. “What a fine thing to be as rude as that with such convictions.” ― Eilís Dillon
58. “I am on this earth for many reasons. Being disrespected by you is not one of them.” — Ann Wilkinson
59. “I can’t control your behavior, nor I do want that burden. but I will not apologize for refusing to be disrespected, to be lied to, or to be mistreated. I have standards; step up or step out.” — Steve Maraboli
60. “Disrespect rarely motivates a man.” — Courtney Joseph
61. “Now I feel like whatever I do, no one can hurt me. I cannot be violated, I cannot be humiliated, I cannot be disregarded, I cannot be disrespected.” –Fiona Apple
62. “The majority of human conflict comes from people just feeling disrespected.” –Paul K. Chappell
63. “There’s no reason to trade insults. We have our way of life and they have theirs. I wouldn’t live as they do, but disrespect seems pointless. I’m sure there are good people among them.” — Alexei Panshin
64. “Confidence is one thing, disrespect is quite another.” — David Baldacci
65. “When someone disrespects you, beware the impulse to win their respect. For disrespect is not a valuation of your worth but a signal of their character.” — Brendon Burchard
66. “Incivility is the extreme of pride; it is built on the contempt of mankind.” — John G. Zimmerman
67. “In the minds of great managers, consistent poor performance is not primarily a matter of weakness, stupidity, disobedience, or disrespect. It is a matter of miscasting.” — Marcus Buckingham
68. “If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves.” — Marcus Garvey
69. “That bad manners are so prevalent in the world is the fault of good manners.” — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
70. “Social media made you all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.” — Mike Tyson
71. “Surfeit begets insolence, when prosperity comes to a bad man.” — Theognis of Megara
72. “Don’t put up with disrespect just to keep them in your life.” — Sonya Parker
73. “Teenagers these days are out of control. They eat like pigs, they are disrespectful of adults, they interrupt and contradict their parents, and they terrorize their teachers.” — Aristotle
74. “I think blatantly ignoring someone is one of the few highest forms of disrespect.” –Unknown
75. “Disrespect earns the displeasure of the creator and the creation.” — Abdul-Qadir Gilani
76. “What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?” — Socrates
77. “I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities.” — Seymour Papert
78. “How can you blame others for disrespecting you when you think of yourself as unworthy of respect?” — Elif Safak
79. “If Somebody disrespects me they will pay for it. I promise.” — Anderson Silva
80. “I don’t think a tough question is disrespectful.” — Helen Thomas
81. “I find drug use disrespectful, self destructive and weak. I want no part of it. I believe in complete respect for myself and others.” — Davey Havok
82. “If everyone is getting money, no one is getting disrespected, and no one is getting hurt, no one should be arguing.” — Damon Dash
83. “Be childish. Be irresponsible. Be disrespectful. Be everything this society hates.” — Malcolm Mclaren
84. “Self-confidence is the ability to exercise restraint in the face of disrespect and still show respect in response.” — Simon Sinek
85. “In any country when you throw something in somebody’s face, it’s disrespectful.” — Pitbull
86. “Never speak disrespectfully of Society. Only people who can’t get into it do that.” — Oscar Wilde
87. “Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own view.” — William Hazlitt
Now that you’ve looked through all 87 disrespectful quotes, which ones stood out as your favorites or as most familiar to you?
