self-respect

self- +‎ respect

self-respect (uncountable)

1. The knowledge of one's own worth, valuing one's self; pride.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter XXIV, in Mansfield Park: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     […] he wished he had been a William Price, distinguishing himself and working his way to fortune and consequence with so much self-respect and happy ardour, instead of what he was!

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     In the little chaos of Pearl's character there might be seen emerging […] an uncontrollable will—sturdy pride, which might be disciplined into self-respect—and a bitter scorn of many things which, when examined, might be found to have the taint of falsehood in them.

   • 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter XIX, in The Voyage Out‎:

     Would any woman have behaved like that—if a man had said he didn’t want her? We’ve too much self-respect; we’re infinitely finer than they are.

   • 1965, Frank Herbert, Dune‎ (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 112‎:

     “To hold Arrakis,” the Duke said, “one is faced with decisions that may cost one his self-respect.” He pointed out the window to the Atreides green and black banner hanging limply from a staff at the edge of the landing field. "That honorable banner could come to mean many evil things."

• dignity
• self-esteem
• self-worth