Some might question, “Women who have swallowed all the compunctions of modesty are being honoured today! They strut about with heads erect, and the world honours them not a whit less. How is that so, if modesty is all important?” I have no need to acquaint Myself with these activities of the present-day world. I do not concern Myself with them. They may receive honour and respect of a sort, but the respect is not authorized or deserved. When honour is offered to the undeserving, it is tantamount to insult; to accept it when offered is to demean the very gift. It is not honour but flattery that is cast on the immodest by the selfish and the greedy. A modest woman will never crave honour or praise. Her attention will always be on the limits that she should not transgress. Honour and praise come to her unasked and unnoticed. The honey in the flower or lotus does not crave for bees; so too is the relationship with a cultured woman who knows her limits and the respect she evokes and deserves.

- Dharma Vahini, Ch 4.