Quotes about honour

A man makes mistakes, but he lives by them. Foolish it may be on occasion. But in the main it is the only way to live. We are what we say only so long as our words are iron.

War is for men, for honor and glory.

"Honor," he said firmly. "I have great honor. So will you. But you will find that is not the same as power."

Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex. As long as combat was desirable as the source of honor and glory, the knight had no wish to share it with the commoner, even for the sake of success.

This was the remnant of honour, nostalgic for spurious legendary times.

“You have to have some kind of morality,” he said.

“Sure. Like you have to have motives for doing anything at all. Still, I think we’re beyond that smug sort of code which proclaimed crusades and burned heretics and threw dissenters into concentration camps. We need more personal and less public honor.”

“‘Honor’ is a word applied to the actions of men from the past who have had their lives scrubbed clean by historians.”

“Are you going to answer me? Why is it you trust my daughter so much when others almost universally revile her?”

“I consider their disdain for her to be a recommendation,” he said.

“She is a heretic.”

“She refused to join any of the devotaries because she did not believe in their teachings. Rather than compromise for the sake of appearances, she has been honest and has refused to make professions she does not believe. I find that a sign of honor.”

Navani snorted. “You two are a pair of nails in the same doorframe. Stern, hard, and storming annoying to pull free.”

“Who’s put these ideas in your head? Why would you want to learn to hit other boys with a stick?”

“For honor, father,” Kal said. “Who tells stories about surgeons, for the Heralds’s sake!”

“The children of the men and women whose lives we save,” Lirin said evenly, meeting Kal’s gaze. “That’s who tell stories of surgeons.”

The ardents who passed through town were careful to explain that the Calling of a farmer was a noble one, one of the highest save for the Calling of a soldier. Kal’s father whispered under his breath that he saw far more honor in feeding the kingdom than he did in fighting and dying in useless wars.

The only thing of weight that can be said against modern Honour is, that it is directly opposite to Religion. The one bids you bear Injuries with Patience, the other tells you if you don't resent them, you are not fit to live.

Harry Dresden: Sometimes I hate having a conscience, and a stupidly thorough sense of honor.