45 Inspiring Quotes About Taking The High Road

Nothing stings worse than the slap of an insult.

But when others are watching, they wonder what kind of action you're going to take. And you wonder, too. It's never an easy situation when a person is faced with the choice between confronting a situation that won't change, or taking the high road.

The high road is hard to take, and it seems unfair that you have to be the one to travel it alone. A part of you would rather get revenge or vindicate yourself, right? It's one thing to be told to forget about a hurtful situation; that won't work anyway and you know it's the easy way out.

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How can you forget a wound that bled and left a scar? Well, pain requires action. But the kind of action to take is a step forward in a direction that shows the person you really are — a fighter, a survivor, and a winner with self-respect.

To show you just how valuable the high road experience is to your future, these quotes about taking the high road will inspire you to be the bigger person.

45 Quotes About Taking The High Road:

1. "I truly believe that my haters are my motivators."

2. "Step with care and great tact, and remember that life’s a great balancing act." —Dr. Seuss

3. "It’s a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness." —Lucius Annaeus Seneca

4. "How people treat you is their karma. How you react is yours." —Wayne Dyer

5. "Some of us should receive medals for being able to bit our tongues so hard without biting them off."

6. "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." —Edward Abbey

7. "Which will you take, the high road or the low road?" "Which one is longer?" "They're both short." —Yasutaka Tsutsui

8. "When faced with senseless drama, spiteful criticisms, and misguided opinions, walking away is the best way to stand up for yourself. To respond with anger is an endorsement of their attitude." —Dodinsky

9. "The high road can be narrow and bumpy, but the view is magnificent." —Dean Jackson

10. "Those who travel the high road of humility are not troubled by heavy traffic." —Alan K. Simpson

11. "Conflict cannot survive when only one person participates."

12. "To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness and triumph with humility."

13. "The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury." —Marcus Aurelius

14. "When you feel good about yourself, you won’t tear others down."

15. "Action is a high road to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it. It comes readily to most people, and its rewards are tangible." —Bruce Lee

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16. "Every time you are able to find humor in a situation, you win."

17. "Don’t let one cloud obliterate the whole sky." —Anais Nin

18. "Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control."

19. "Don’t mix bad words with your bad mood. You will have many opportunities to change a mood, but you will never get the opportunity to replace the words you spoke."

20. "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." —Thomas Jefferson

21. "I’m going to take the high road because the low road is too crowded." —Mia Farrow

22. "Sometimes — this is a tough one — not everyone can handle the truth. Sometimes you have to take a beat. But if you can take that beat, and take the high road, it'll serve you in the long run." —Jeremy Piven

23. "Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment." —Lao Tzu

24. "Whoever is trying to bring you down is already below you."

25. "Sometimes letting go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on." —Eckhart Tolle

26. “When you take the high road you will see things that some people can't.” ―Shannon L. Alder

27. “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” —Brad Meltzer

28. "How beautiful it is to stay silent when someone expects you to be enraged."

29. "Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the high road to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction." —Margaret Thatcher

30. "Don’t sacrifice your peace trying to point out someone’s true colors. Lack of character always reveals itself in the end" —Mandy Hale

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31. "Happiness is the best revenge."

32. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

33. "Pray for the strength to walk the high road, which at times may be lonely but which will lead to peace and happiness and joy supernal." —Gordon B. Hinckley

34. "Weak people avenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore."

35. "The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded." —Scott Hamilton

36. "Take the high road. No matter how much strife, and consternation, frustration and anger you might be confronted with — don’t go to that level." —Tim Gunn

37. "Love is a helium-based emotion; Love always takes the high road." — Augusten Burroughs

38. "I suggest taking the high road and have a little sense of humor and let things roll off your back. I think that's very important." —Sally Ride

39. "What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days. Humanity will not be cast down. We are going on swinging bravely forward along the grand high road and already behind the distant mountains is the promise of the sun." —Winston Churchill

40. "The high road's the only road I know. Let's keep on that way." —Jim Harbaugh

41. "Show respect, even to people who don't deserve it; not as a reflection of their character, but as a reflection of yours." —Dave Willis

42. "Taking the high road is hard work — walking uphill requires strength and effort. Anyone can take the low road — walking downhill is easy." Rachel St. John Gilbert

43. "Do the best you can, and don’t take life too seriously." —Will Rogers

44. "Never sacrifice your class to get even with someone who has none. Let them have the gutter. You take the high road."

45. "Silence is the best response to a fool."

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Aria Gmitter, M.S, M.F.A., is YourTango's Senior Editor of Horoscopes and Spirituality. She studies with the Midwestern School of Astrology and is a member of the South Florida Astrological Association.