Respect for me has been in my vocabulary since I was a small child. My mom taught my sister's and I, that "you do unto others as you would want them to do unto you". Respect is defined as a particular or point, relation or reference, esteem for a small worth or excellence of a person. Showing respect towards others means not to make fun of or not to disagree upon someone's likes or dislike while not talking about someone behind their back. Always listen to what the other person is saying, value other's opinion's while being sensitive to their feelings. Be honest, trusting, positive, fair and polite.

Reference.com has many links listed about "respect". Gaining Self Respect, Self Respect dignity and Respect Quotes along with much more information. http://ask.reference.com/related/Self+Respect?qsrc=2892&l=dir&o=10601

Respect Quotes;
Eyodor Dostoyevsky wrote
"If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self respect will you compel others to respect you".
Abraham J. Heschel wrote
"Self respect is the fruit of disipline, the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say "no" to oneself".

Arethe Franklin "Respect"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0XAI-PFQcA
This is a very cool video done by Alex and Eddie Van Halen "Respect the Wind"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYK7YJPZLeE
DJ BoBo - Respect Yourself 1997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lAFVwacesI

Here is an Awesome Tatoo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grantlairdjr/499076759/

I must respectfully disagree with @omicron’s response. He is partially right, but not exactly.

To be feared and respected are two different things. When someone is feared, they will be treated with respect, but that respect will not be genuine; to be feared is generally to be hated. Think about how many mafia bosses die untimely deaths, or are ratted out by their underlings. There is no real respect there.

Make no mistake: the capacity to cause fear does not lead a person to be hated; but one must be judicious in its application.

Real respect stems simply from an appreciation and acceptance of another person. If you appreciate and accept someone – then you respect them; it really is as simple as that.

Now let’s move on to some concrete examples.

The best place to witness the development of respect is in the school system. Take your typical high school and look at the teachers. Some of them will be respected, some of them won’t and some of them will be loathed. Teachers that are respected are well-liked, but some of those that are not respected are well-liked as well. It takes more than a sparkly personality to earn respect as a teacher – your knowledge and your character must be appreciated; your motivations and your reasoning must be understood – and you must be perceived as being fair.

The most respected teacher that I have worked with was an older man, I never heard him raise his voice at a student, but when he spoke they listened. A simple admonishment from him would make even the most thuggish student feel ashamed. He was not physically intimidating and he didn’t wield his authority – he simply maintained a reasonable approach with everyone he talked to. He was someone that struck me as genuinely good.

I remember my school days with a vice principal who was much the same. Trouble between students was resolved with a discussion and a handshake. A lot of kids who fought would end up being friends for life after a trip to his office. Their reasonability and their ability to understand and promote reason was what people respected.
Now, let’s take a look at how students treat teachers who are feared. My school has a big martial arts program. We teach Judo, Kendo and Karate. In Japan, martial arts teachers are extremely strict. The students who study their respective arts will hold their teachers in the utmost respect, but those that don’t practice them or those that just have to do Judo once a week for PE don’t treat the teachers with the same respect. Some of them are hated, because their abilities and experience are not appreciated by their students. Parents, on the other hand, hold them in the highest respect.

In most situations it boils down to a perception that the person is ethical and cares about others. The Golden Rule, Luke 6:31 in all of its King James glory sums up pretty much all that is involved.

---quote---
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
---end quote---

Whether you are a religious person or not, that is a pretty good rule to live by if you want to be respected.

Let’s look at various character points that tend to be respected or not respected.

Respected
Fairness
Reasonability
Honesty
Possessing a strong work ethic
Intelligence
Physical strength
Sense of responsibility
Bravery

Not respected
Aggressiveness
Dishonesty
Unfairness
Laziness
Stupidity
Lack of responsibility
Weakness
Cowardice/ fearfulness

Just as different people respect different things, they also disrespect different things. This is where @omicron made some good points. But there was something that he overlooked. Take your most violent “Neanderthal” and ask him why he fights or who he fights. Chances are that he won’t be able to tell you – but I can. It is because of perceived character flaws in the other person. Like dogs, people attack if they sense weakness; just as they will attack if they sense aggression.

The easiest way out of a violent encounter – unless you are dealing with a complete psychopath is not to show either aggression or cowardice. Talking to a person reasonably will defuse just about every situation; if you do not seem scared, they will wonder why you are not scared – and without them realizing it, you earn their respect. That is the key. If you raise your voice, get angry or apologize profusely, then at the very least you will be humiliated and at the worst you will have to receive or administer a beating.

Respect, getting it and showing it, is the social lubricant that keeps us operational as a society.

Respect is one of those intangibles that is difficult to pin down, but in my experience it seems to be strongly correlated with an ability to recognize and appreciate value. Those who possess this ability usually have broad and varying perspectives due to circumstances in their lives which exposed them to different extremes of experience - poverty/prosperity, scarcity/abundance, despair/joy, illness/good health, etc.

I spent a couple of years working as a taxicab driver in an extremely poor area outside Washington D.C. The problems I saw in the county I worked in were too numerous to list, but one which I began to notice and think a lot about was littering. There was always trash all over the ground, sidewalks and roads. And worst of all, observing people littering was a daily occurrence; they had no shame. Occasionally I would even see people chuck an empty paper cup with glee, as if they were skipping a stone across a pond! I think they were capable of this only because they lacked respect for their environment - and why would they respect it?After all, it was terribly ugly, not pleasant to be in and in a very real way, lacked value. It's sad that they couldn't step back and realize their role in the continual devaluation of their own environment, but I think a lot of them had never seen a beautiful city or park or neighborhood, so they had no point of reference.

I saw the same phenomenon (cyclical devaluation) operating in the communities, families and individuals, too. People in such a community have an easy time committing violence against each other and a hard time respecting each other because they look at one another and don't see anything of value. If, for generations, nobody with any experience or perspective has introduced kindness and respect into a community, it will develop into a community which really does lack value and therefore lacks respect for itself. Incapacity for self-respect precludes respect for anything else. And the cycle continues...

I was fortunate to have been born in a really affluent county in the U.S. and, although my family wasn't particularly rich, I went to good schools and a lot of my classmates were from super rich families. So I've had a lot of first hand experience with the well-known phenomenon of privileged white kids who have no respect for anyone or anything. I think this also stems from a lack of perspective. Pampered suburban kids can't appreciate or respect the prosperity into which they were born, never having known anything else and subconsciously believing that there isn't anything else. Ironically, they end up resenting it and imagining that they have some sort of "respect' for what they perceive to be 'ghetto' culture (It wasn't until I worked in a really impoverished area that I fully appreciated the irony of the wigger).

So respect requires something from both parties. The object of respect must actually have some value and the potential giver of respect must be able to recognize that value. It's interesting, though, how these two variables seem directly dependent upon each other, i.e., without one, the other will certainly vanish.

Here is what I think about respect;

My definition of respect: Respect is a way of expressing our gratitude towards someone's/something's superiority/greatness/usefulness/strength etc. It is absolutely a mental or spiritual experience which cannot be manipulated by exertion of external force or acts. For example, if you respect somebody from the depth of your heart, you cannot change it even if you are threatened by someone. You may start pretending that you don't respect that person any more, but you cannot change it from your heart.

Respect is mostly earned through acts or deeds of courage, benevolence, kindness, bravery, heroism, gallantry, patriotism, humanity etc., but in some cases, it is also earned by inflicting fear in people's minds by showing them superiority or strength. But the latter one does not survive long.

Respect is also earned by showing respect to others. It is well proven that if you give respect, you earn respect in turn.

Respect helps in disciplining ourselves and it is very essential to have respect for someone/something from whom you desire to learn/obtain something. Without respect for the teacher, nobody can learn anything. Life is the best teacher and that's why we must respect it.

Although the generation today may think that showing respect to somebody makes you look like a fool among masses, but in the long run, they will surely learn how important respect is in life.

So, give respect to those who deserve it. You must respect your parents, your teachers, your life, mother nature, this Earth and God; because without them, you could have never seen or understood this beautiful world.

Thanks

Respect is one of those things that everyone wants,
demanding it from everyone else
- - even if unwarranted and, often, without any intention of returning the favor - -
and has the capability of giving such,
but, with rare exception, these days, is unwilling to do so.

It is as elusive as an ethereal wisp,
like a dandelion seed wafting the windstream.

It is misunderstood as "weakness",
much in the same way as people who crush anothers' hand during a handshake,
thinking it gives them dominance (i.e., the greater respect),
when, in fact, most people consider it rude and boorish.
Conversely, the same is true of those who do not take an extended hand.

Respect is a tricky topic, because it means different things to different people, and can be expressed in different ways, depending on the situation.

For example, one of my best friends is a person for whom I have the utmost respect: He's brainy, well-educated, creative, and driven. He is active in the local art scene and local politics where I live, and has accomplished some brilliant things, often despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

It cuts both ways though; I'm more of a behind-the-scenes person, but we both want our city to be a better place to live. I'm fairly clever myself, and have an irritating amount of knowledge and common sense; so he asks for and values my opinions and ideas.

The respect is mutual, but if you'd never know it from listening to us talking casually. We constantly and ruthlessly mock, ridicule and tease each other, in the most horrid manner possible, for fun. In public, this sometimes leaves innocent bystanders gasping with shock and wondering why we don't strangle each other instead of laughing uproariously. It's respect. No matter how much we humorously shred each other about occasional mistakes and boneheadedness, we still respect each other's intelligence, knowledge, integrity, and abilities.

On the other hand, I have had supervisors at several jobs who were incompetent, lazy, worthless imbeciles who would have ignominiously starved to death in a cardboard box under a bridge without the benefit of nepotism. Nevertheless, I had to treat these mouth-breathing idiots with the utmost courtesy at all times just to remain employed, because as far as I can tell, as a general rule, the less respect someone deserves, the more likely they are to demand it in a strident manner.

But that's only my personal observation over the last twenty years. I could be wrong.

A problem I have is that I was never treated with respect by adults when I was growing up. Now, as a 30something, I generally view most people I meet as "unworthy" of MY respect unless they earn it. This is very offputting to a lot of people because I will lump a mayor into the same "respect" level as a sheriff, convenience store clerk, and random stranger.

It's not until they have proven to me that they deserve my respect that I will give it. This doesn't mean I'm an unhelpful sociopath or anything, I will go out of my way to help anyone with anything within reason. Help the single mom across the apartment complex move a couch? Sure. Watch her kids for her? Not unless it's something major. But what will it take before I'd put my butt on the line for her out of respect for her and her family? I don't know. Maybe a good bowl of chili and hearing about how she helps out the 80 year old lady with her daily needs. Who knows.

The thing is, as I've gotten older, I've realized most "elders" in society are as stupid and full of crap as anyone else and there is simply no reason to treat them differently than anyone else. I respect what teachers do but I typically don't respect the actual teacher as a human being. I know that sounds weird but I respect actions and not individuals really unless they've shown a pattern of "positive" actions. No, going to school each day and teaching doesn't fit that pattern, it's their job. If they somehow excel in that and do something that really inspires my kid, they get respect from me.

This really makes older people mad. If I see a 60 year old man and he starts barking orders at me and I hardly know him, odds are I'll tell him to screw off. If it's my Grandfather asking me to help him out, I'll do that out of respect for him as a family member I've always looked up to.

It's difficult to put this into words but I know it when I see it.

I do agree with Omicron in the area that you should respect something that has the potential to harm you in some way as well.

Here's some examples of what I respect:

My Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. They worked hard and made the most out of life.
Someone who risks bodily harm, death, or imprisonment to help someone in great need.
Kids who don't act like j*****ses more than 60% of the time. (specific I know)
My wife (usually)
Animals. I understand animals and respect them for the animals they are. That doesn't mean I'm less likely to eat them covered in a delicious batter but I do know why they do the things they do and respect that.

SOME soldiers. There's a fine line in the military and if you respect all military personnel, you're simply an idiot. The intelligent person who joins the military to make a difference in their lives and to assist the country in whatever it's doing is good. The j*****s who failed school, got his GED and joined the Marines with the hopes he might get to "kill shit" doesn't deserve respect even if they pull off some heroic act. Odds are some of them will. That's how the dice roll. We do need those guys though I admit that.

I THINK RESPECT IS NOTHING BUT LOVE BY OTHERS WITHOUT LOVE ONE CANNOT RESPECT OTHER
IF YOU HATE SOMEONE HOW CAN YOU RESPECT HIM OR HER
AND TO HAVE LOVE AND RESPECT YOU SHOULD ALWAYS THINK BEST FOR OTHERS WITH SINCERITY

respect is earned not bought. giving respect will increase your image in the others mind... for the children, try from beginning to take to the unknown place...for youngsters, make them practicaly understand..

Respect! A little word that means a lot. Respect would be the base of every relationship. It'd be the link between all the creatures of the world. You need to respect the nature that surround you like you need to respect everything around you. What do you think?
"I missed you, but I never met you yet"
We need to improve our aptitude to understand the nature, when I am talking about nature I am trying to compare all the things of our world, which are all linked one each other, like the butterfly effect, if you can follow me.

Respect is often confused with TRUST or AUTHORITY.

Currently, political systems in the western world are suffering from the widespread misuse of authority, leading to a lack of trust. In turn, this situation reduces the amount of respect that individuals can invest in 'authority figures', in community leaders, and in other individuals around them.

The website for Respect (a minor political party in the UK) is interesting. The party aims to restore the public's respect for government by making government less dogmatic & ideological, and more responsive to reasoned public preference.

See:

http://www.therespectparty.net