“Freedom is hollow without equality. Rights must extend beyond paper declarations into lived realities, where opportunity, dignity, and justice are accessible to all. Liberty is not a privilege but the breath of democracy.”
“And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire --
clearly I'm not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.”
Source: New and Selected Poems, Volume One
“The essential Arab concept of maintaining dignity seemed alien to all but the savviest of soldiers”
Source: Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World
“The demand is only for dignity, not for humiliation.”
“One can seldom look at terrain and think of it, "This is France," for instance, but in looking at the landscape south of Nogales I had the feeling unmistakably. The land itself was Mexican. It was dry, sandy, rocky, hot, and heavy with many kinds of desert plants. It had repose, dignity, and a sense of the fierceness of survival--not just human survival, but all survival, animal, insect, bird, and plant. And then, when the people of Mexico appeared beyond the train windows, this isolation, struggle, and heroism was clearly marked in their faces.”
Source: Places Where I've Done Time
“I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity. I will die on that hill.”
Source: Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches: Advice, Inspiration and Laughter from the I've Had It Podcast Hosts
“There was nothing I could do but stare and stare at the whelks.
Whelks are strange and comforting.
They have no notion of community life and they breed very quietly.
But they have a strong sense of personal dignity.
Even lying face down in a tray of vinegar, there is something noble about a whelk.
Which cannot be said for everybody.”
Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
“I think it better to conclude in good time and in erect bearing a life in which intellectual labour meant the purest joy and personal freedom the highest good on earth.”
“Love, books and integrity, if you have these three in your life, you have everything that matters.”
Source: Little Planet on The Prairie: Dunya Benim, Sorumluluk Benim
“We found nothing in the wardrobe, not even my dignity.”
Source: Delicious Death