SUZY EDDIE IZZARD
Dress To Kill

I’ve learnt that you’ve got to be really non-apologetic... You’ve got to say, "Hi, I’m here, can I have a cup of tea? And one of those biscuits?" If you say that, it’s fine. If you go in and say, "Excuse me, I’m a transvestite, I’ll be in the corner, I won’t be a problem, I’ll face away," everyone will go, "Oh-oh, problem case in the corner." So don’t apologise.

JOAN DIDION
“On Self-Respect” (1961)
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In brief, people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character, a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to other, more instantly negotiable virtues. Nonetheless, character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.