30 Workplace Respect Quotes By Famous People

Workplace disrespect occurs more frequently than we would like to believe. It often leads to severe consequences that affect the overall productivity of an organization, affecting employees' and employers' mental health badly.

Most of the time, employees' lack of respect for one another is attributable to management's lack of respect for them.

Thus, management and employers must lead by example, prioritizing respect in the workplace.

One of the surveys by HBR in November 2014 says: "Those that get respect from their leaders reported 56% better health and well-being, 1.72 times more trust and safety, 89% greater enjoyment and satisfaction with their jobs, 92% greater focus and prioritization, and 1.26 times more meaning and significance. Those that feel respected by their leaders were also 1.1 times more likely to stay with their organizations than those that didn't."

The following are 30 quotes that help us understand what it means to be respectful along with some follow-up actions that we can implement to promote respect ideals in our workplace.

30 Workplace Respect Quotes Of All Time

1. Bill Bradley

Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal, and help one another achieve respect. Don't use destructive lies, unfounded fears, or debilitating anger.

2. Maya Angelou

If we lose love and self-respect for each other, this is how we finally die.

3. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin.

4. Albert Einstein

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.

6. Mark A. Clement

Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise—not the ones who promise more than they can deliver.

7. Annie Gottlieb

Respect is an appreciation of the separateness of the other person, of the ways in which he or she is unique.

8. Anthony Rizzo

I will respect the limits of my experience but that won't stop me from trying to lead by example of my work. Being a good teammate and picking up others on and off the field is a simple goal of mine.

9. Clint Eastwood

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.

10. Unknown

The goal is not to be liked, it’s to be respected.

11. Greg Brenneman

The whole concept of treating people with dignity and respect is a concept that isn’t a business concept, it’s a life concept. It’s who you are at the end of the day.

12. Abraham Lincoln

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

13. Mark Cuban

It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship.

14. LeBron James

When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.

15. Margaret Mead

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

16. Fyodor Dostoyevsk

If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

17. David Joseph Schwartz

It is well to respect the leader. Learn from him. Observe him. Study him. But don't worship him. Believe you can surpass him. Believe you can go beyond him. Those who harbor the second-best attitude are invariably second-best doers.

18. Jason Sudeikis

Being polite and grateful will make people more inclined to help you. And if people are willing to help you, you may accidentally get something you want.

19. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

20. Matshona Dhliwayo

Always see people smarter than you as gifts, not competition.

21. Ernest Hemingway

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

22. George Bernard Sha

There is no accomplishment so easy to acquire as politeness, and none more profitable.

23. M. Scott Peck

Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.

24. Sam Walton

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.

25. Linda Hill

If you don’t feel respected, you won’t be engaged in your work.

26. Max DePree

Understanding the diversity of our gifts enables us to begin taking the crucial step of trusting each other.

27. Mary Ann Kelty

Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practices in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents and accomplishments.

28. Charles A. Dana

Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth.

29. Angerla Ahrendts

Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.

30. Michelle Obama

If I made a commitment, I stood by that commitment - and try to make it real. Because when you become leaders, the most important thing you have is your word, your trust. That's where respect comes from.