An important distinction needs to be pointed out between respecting a person in the sense that we admire and hold that person in high esteem, and between treating everyone with respect. Whilst admiring someone is optional, treating everyone with respect is morally mandatory.

Treating others with respect is not equivalent, however, to avoiding — at all costs — from criticising, or even condemning, someone's speech or deed. It is still respectful to express truth honestly in a balanced way, whilst taking care to inflict the least possible distress and pain — as otherwise it becomes impossible to express certain difficult truths.