Honor

If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime; but if clothing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare.
~ William Arnot

Honor never grows old, and honor gives the greatest joy, because honor is, finally, about defending noble and worthy things that deserve to be defended, even at a high cost.
~ William John Bennett, in Hillsdale College IMPRIMIS, Vol. 27, No. 12 (December 1998). Does Honor Have a Future?

Yesterday you stripped me of all my honor, please by your actions that you take here today, don't strip future soldiers of their honor -- I beg you.
~ William Calley, My Lai court-martial (1971)

Honour's a rich,
A glorious upper vestment, which we wear
To please the lookers on, as well as to
Delight our selves.
~ Sir William Davenant, The Fair Favourite II, iii (1638).

It is better to die honourably than live shamefully.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

Our honour stands fair till temptations abound;
Then honour, like echo, is all empty sound.
~ William Hutton, from Poems, chiefly tales (1804). Maxims

Come, join in the only battle
wherein no man can fail,
Where whoso fadeth and dieth,
yet his deed shall still prevail.
~ William Morris, from Poems by the Way (1891). The Day is Coming

He that desires honour, is not worthy of honour.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honour; so belike is that.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act IV, scene v

And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Act IV, scene iii

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men's names.
~ William Shakespeare, King John

But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry V. Act IV, scene iii

But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honoured in the breach than the observance.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iv

But why should honour outlive honesty?
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act V, scene ii

Heaven keep your honour safe!
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act II, scene ii

Honour and renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deed.
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida

If I lose mine honor,
I lose myself.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene iv

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard II

Never shame to hear what you have nobly done.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act II, scene ii

Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
When honour's at the stake.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act IV, scene iv

. . . Tell him that his sword can never win
The honour that he loses.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act III, scene ii

What's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV, scene xiii

What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning!
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act V, scene i

[W]hen valour preys on reason,
It eats the sword it fights with.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene xiii

It's as great an honor as I have ever received. It was a stunning award that I had no idea was coming. I started following the band when I was in high school and I went to more than 600 shows. I wish I had been to a lot more.
~ William (Bill) Theodore Walton, III (on becoming an inaugural member of the Grateful Dead Hall of Honor), The Chicago Tribune (29 October 2002). Fred Mitchell's Q&A: Bill Walton

Know thou thy faithful! Best they honour thee
Who honour in thee only what is best.
~ William Watson, in the National Review (June 1885). Ver Tenebrosum. Sonnet VI. The True Patriotism

It is an ancient custom, as ancient as the Roman Empire, to idolize those whom we honor, to make them larger than life, to give their marvelous accomplishments a magical and mystical origin. . . . By idolizing those whom we honor, we fail to realize that we could go and do likewise.
~ Charles V. Willie, Remarks on the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at Harvard University, Cambridge MA (21 January 2002). The Ethical Foundations of Dr. King's Political Action

I wanted to do something different, and I figured this would be the highest honor, as far as the Army goes.
~ Danyell Elaine Wilson (1997).

Say, what is Honour? -- 'Tis the finest sense
Of justice which the human mind can frame.
~ William Wordsworth (1809)

For how can you compete
Being honour bred, with one
Who, were it proved he lies,
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbour's eyes?
~ William Butler Yeats, from Responsibilities and Other Poems (1914). To a Friend whose Work has come to Nothing

Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself.
~ William Butler Yeats