Respectable Quotes

269 quotes by 230 authors

If you can build a business up big enough, it's respectable. — Will Rogers
I write plays because writing dialogue is the only respectable way of contradicting yourself. I put a position, rebut it, refute the rebuttal, and rebut… — Tom Stoppard
During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism. — Howard Thurman
Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of… — John Updike
I mean in the South African case, many of those who were part of death squads would have been respectable members of their white community,… — Desmond Tutu
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable. — Voltaire
Sometimes I want to clean up my desk and go out and say, respect me, I'm a respectable grown-up, and other times I just want… — Wendy Wasserstein
The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage… — George Santayana
Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for… — Vladimir Nabokov
For years I felt that being respectable meant maintaining a sinister complacency, and the disreputable freedom I sought helped make me a writer. — Paul Theroux
To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable. — Oscar Wilde
The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. — H. L. Mencken
She conceived of life as a road down which one traveled, an easy enough road through a broad country, and that one's destination was there… — Marilynne Robinson
I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. — Jane Austen
I have no religion,â€™ says Borneau, â€˜but I respect the religion of others. Religion is sacred.â€™ Why this privilege, this immunity?... A believer creates God… — Jules Renard
I can't bear to hear a human being spoken of with contempt just because of his group identification...It's these respectable people here who create those… — Isaac Asimov
I come from a family where the only emotion respectable to show is irritation. In some this tendency produces hives, in others literature, in me… — Flannery O'Connor
I'm a relatively respectable citizen. Multiple felon perhaps, but certainly not dangerous. — Hunter S. Thompson
You must not let yourself become too respectable. Keep yourself a little wild. What is life for, if not for the living of it? — Cynthia Voigt
No excuses ever, for anyone; that is my principle at the outset. I deny the good intention, the respectable mistake, the indiscretion, the extenuating circumstance.… — Albert Camus

Who Wrote These Respectable Quotes

230 authors contributed a total of 269 Respectable Quotes, led by these top contributors: