Honour is simply the morality of superior men. H L Mencken
The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
Honour is purchas’d by the deedes wee do.
Believe me Hero, honour is not won,
Until some honourable deed be done. Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander
Virtue is the fount whence honour springs. Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, 1590
Honour, without money, is just a disease. Jean Racine, Les Plaideurs, 1668
It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. Proverbs 20:3
Leave not a stain upon thine honour. Ecclesiasticus 33:22
Honour is like a match, you can only use it once. Marcel Pagnol, Marius, 1946
In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them. Horatio Nelson
I think that you can honour the sacrifices of a common soldier without glorifying war. Geraldine Brooks
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
Honour is like a widow, won
With brisk attempt and putting on. Samuel Butler, Hudibras I II i
Now, while the honour thou hast got
Is spick and span new. ibid. I III 397
If he that in the field is slain
Be in the bed of honour lain,
He that is beaten may be said
To lie in Honour’s truckle-bed. ibid. I III 1047
As quick as lightning, in the breach
Just in the place where honour’s lodged,
As wise philosophers have judged,
Because a kick in that place more
Hurts Honour than deep wounds before. ibid. II III 1066
Give me, kind Heaven, a private station,
A mind serene for contemplation:
Title and profit I resign:
The post of honor shall be mine. John Gay, Fables II: The Vulture, The Sparrow and other Birds, 1727
Honour sits smiling at the sale of truth. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab IV:218, 1813
Here honor binds me, and I wish to satisfy it. Pierre Corneille, Polyeucte IV:3
Great honours are great burdens, but on whom
They are cast with envy, he doth bear two loads.
His cares must still be double to his joys,
In any dignity. Ben Jonson, Catiline, His Conspiracy III i 1
A Quixotic sense of the honourable – of the chivalrous. Edgar Allen Poe, letter to Mrs Whitman 18 October 1848
He died full of years and of honours, equally illustrious by those he refused as by those he accepted. Pliny the Younger, Epistles II:1
His honour rooted in dishonour stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idyls of the King, Lancelot and Elaine, l886
Gowron: You will have nothing.
Worf: Except my honour. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s4e2: The Way of the Warrior II
All honour’s wounds are self-inflicted. Andrew Carnegie
More than 1,000 women are murdered in Pakistan each year by male relatives who believe the victims have dishonoured their families. A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness ***** 2015
‘Saba had a gunshot wound on the left side of her face which made it almost impossible to recognise anything.’ ibid. doctor
‘They shot her and threw her in the river.’ ibid. rozzer
‘I will never forgive them.’ ibid. Saba
After leaving the hospital Saba went into hiding. ibid.
‘This is what happens when honour is at stake … No woman should ruin her parents’ reputation.’ ibid. mother
‘People who visit my father tell me he is asking for forgiveness.’ ibid. Saba
‘If there is no justice, you can imagine how terrible the police will feel.’ ibid. rozzer
‘I am called an honourable man.’ ibid. father
‘In my heart they are unforgiven.’ ibid. Saba
Rules are not laws. Laws are for cowards. Rules are for men. That’s why we have rules of honour. ZeroZeroZero I: The Shipment, Mexican sellers, Sky Atlantic 2020
There is no greater honour for a woman than to be the mother of Germany’s sons and daughters. This is the highest honour she can attain. Adolf Hitler
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings. Mahatma Gandhi
There is no honour. Only business. Suburra: Blood on Rome s3e2: Torture, Titto, Netflix 2022
This is the problem: this culture of whispers. So-called honour, the silence. It’s a disease. And you wonder why I left. Rough Diamonds I, Netflix 2023
This is a true story about a police investigation in 2006-2007. Honour I, caption, Netflix 2020
Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old woman from South London. It was her boyfriend who reported her missing. ibid. rozzer
He said there was a meeting on 2nd December. Her uncle, Ari – he told them to kill us both. We told the police. We gave them these names and now she’s gone … They chose for her another husband. ibid. boyfriend to rozzer
There’s not a single photograph of Banaz in that [family] house. ibid.
Smudge, you did it. You found her. Honour II, rozzer
What kind of people think that anything in the world is more important than their children’s lives? ibid. Smudge
An ancient code – death before dishonour. Their daughter Shafilea refused to enter into an arranged marriage so she had to die. They acted the part of grief-stricken parents. It took eight years: The Dishonourable Killers. Evil Up Close: The Dishonorable Killers, Crime Channel 2013
Drugged and shipped from one continent to another. ibid.
A house without warmth or laughter ... The abuse began when the children were tiny. ibid.
Shafilea told her friends at school that she was being beaten daily. ibid.
For nine years Shafilea Ahmed’s parents thought their surviving children were so terrified of them that they would never break ranks.
They had carried out the murder in front of them, and afterwards each child, aged between seven and 15, was warned that they, too, would be killed if they ever revealed the truth.
To ensure there were no lapses, they were given a detailed ‘script’ of what they should and should not say to friends, teachers and the police.
Alesha, the robbery accomplice who broke ranks:
But their so-called family honour held firm until Alesha, 15 at the time of the killing, finally found the courage to speak up for her dead sister. The Telegraph online article 3rd August 2012, ‘Shafilea Ahmed: sisters who witnessed a murder’
The parents who asked what everyone was thinking: ‘Would we kill our own daughter?’ Now the experts analyse the tears, the lies and the video tape. A murder that shocked a community. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e3: Shafilea Ahmed
Everything they were describing was a lie. ibid. Cliff
Police began to investigate what Shafilea had told her friends – frequent rows she’d been having with her parents. ibid.
Drinking bleach left Shafilea leaving urgent medical attention. ibid.
They were looking only at her parents. ibid.