Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Rights Quotes

Human Rights Quotes

Browse 2102 quotes about Human Rights.

Related topics

PeopleWorldDemocracyIfsCountryJusticeLawMenPoliticalShouldThinkingGovernmentStatesLibertyMeanNationsBelieveDignityViolationIssuesValuesFreedomWantWarNeedsFightingHuman BeingsInternationalKnowsSecurityUniversalWayAbuseAmericaIndividualHuman Rights DayImportantCivil RightsDevelopmentDoeGivingHas BeensViolenceBasic Human RightsCommunityDemocraticEconomicStruggleSupportWomens RightsPolicyRights And FreedomsTodayUnitedFundamentalsInspirationalSocialDemocracy And Human RightsEqualYearsHumanityMotivationalRule Of LawTerrorismActivistCareChildrenGroupsInterestProtectStandardsInjusticeMoralOrderPersonsPovertyPrinciplesRecordsStillsDeclarationFirstsHelpingHuman DignityI BelieveIdeasLongProblemRealRealityTwoUseWellsChinaCultureLooksMadeMatterPeacePresidentSpeakmore

Human Rights Quotes

“Hiding behind such sacred terms as human rights and distributive justice, politicians and intellectuals alike have perpetrated a gargantuan ruse on humankind: they have convinced us that mass homogeneity is more essential for the betterment of society than is individual initiative, and they have adorned this dubious assumption with assurances that by leveling all distinctions between human beings, collective peace and unity will result as a matter of course, just as water runs downhill or the cart follows the ox.”

HumansMatterRunningCoursesIndividualTermWaterJusticeHuman BeingsResultsBehindsRightsPoliticianEssentialsMassSacredUnityHuman RightsConvincedAssumptionDistinctionCollectivesHidingHumankindInitiativeAssuranceCartsBettermentDubiousHomogeneityPeace And Unity
Author:Gonzalo Fernandez de la Mora
Create image

“The problem is sitting in the birthplace of Islam, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where this interpretation of Islam has gone out into the world over the last four decades, creating militancy groups from Indonesia, to now, San Bernardino, California, vicious attack. We have to take back the faith. And we have to take it back with the principles of peace, social justice, and human rights, women's rights, and secularize governance.”

WorldHumansProblemLastsSocialJusticePrinciplesGoneFourRightsGroupsCreatingSittingSocial JusticeIslamHuman RightsDecadesCaliforniaInterpretationWomens RightsViciousGovernanceIndonesiaArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisMeccaBirthplaceMilitancy
Author:Chuck Todd
Create image

“You just did a whole read-through. The lie that brought us into war was that Iraq was a threat to us. Well, now it is a threat. Now it is a terrorist hotbed. The fiction is now reality. And now we have to deal with it. It was an attempt at a corporate takeover. This was about oil. It wasn't about human rights. It's not about human rights.”

HumansWellsWarWholeRealityLyingDealsFictionRightsThreatHuman RightsIraqOilTerroristCorporateTakeovers
Author:Janeane Garofalo
Create image

“I know of no civilization that tolerates or justifies violence, terrorism, or injustice. There is no civilization that justifies the killing of innocent people. Those who are invoking cultural relativism are really using that as an excuse for violating human rights and to put a cultural mask on the face of what they're doing.”

PeopleKnowsHumansFacesRightsViolenceCivilizationKillingInjusticeHuman RightsExcuseTerrorismInnocentMaskJustifyTolerateRelativismCultural Relativism
Author:Shirin Ebadi
Create image

“Unfortunately, the United States and a few other governments have used the war on terrorism as a way of violating human rights. I am referring to the case of the Guantánamo Bay prisoners. This violation of the rights of prisoners has been so unbelievable that the United Nations has reminded the United States repeatedly that the treatment of prisoners should take place according to the preestablished conventions of the United Nations.”

WayShouldHumansHas BeensWarStatesGovernmentUsedNationsUnitedCasesUnited StatesRightsHuman RightsTerrorismTreatmentPrisonerConventionsUnbelievableUnited NationsViolationWar On TerrorReferringWar On Terrorism
Author:Shirin Ebadi
Create image

“I want to take my American friends back to the end of World War II, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was formulated. A group of thinkers met to come up with ways and means to prevent yet another war. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt played a crucial role in assembling this group of people. And that is why the name of the United States is synonymous with the cause of human rights around the world.”

PeopleWorldWayWantHumansMeanWarEndsStatesNamesCausesUnitedRolesUnited StatesRightsGroupsMetsUniversalHuman RightsCome UpAround The WorldWar Of The WorldsThinkerCrucialWorld War IiWorld War IDeclarationEleanorAssemblingDeclaration Of Human Rights
Author:Shirin Ebadi
Create image

“We need to learn from history. These same leaders - [Barack] Obama, [Hillary] Clinton, and far too many Republicans - want to topple [Bashar] Assad. Assad is a bad man. Gadhafi was a bad man. Mubarak had a terrible human rights record. But they were assisting us - at least [Muammar] Gadhafi and [Hosni] Mubarak - in fighting radical Islamic terrorists.”

MenWantNeedsHumansFightingLeaderRecordsRightsTerribleRepublicanClintonHuman RightsTerroristRadicalBarackIslamicBad ManAssadAssistingMubarak
Author:Ted Cruz
Create image

“I would like to invite the citizens of Great Britain and the citizens of the U.S. and the citizens of the world to come here and walk freely through the streets of Venezuela, to talk to anyone they want, to watch television, to read the papers. We are building a true democracy, with human rights for everyone, social rights, education, health care, pensions, social security, and jobs.”

WorldWantHumansCareJobsSocialWalksWatchesDemocracyRightsStreetsSecurityTelevisionBuildingCitizensPaperHuman RightsHealth CareBritainInvitesPapersSocial SecurityPensionGreat BritainVenezuelaTrue Democracy
Author:Hugo Chavez
Create image

“After the First World War, Germany was trying to build a democracy. Then when the Reichstag, the legislature, was burned down in 1933, this was seen as such an emergency that human rights had to be suspended. The attack on the World Trade Towers has allowed Bush and his gang to do anything. What are we to do now? I say when there's a code red, we should all run around like chickens with our heads cut off. I don't feel that we are in any great danger.”

WorldFeelsShouldTryingFirstsHumansWarRunningDemocracyCuttingRightsDangerRedTradeHuman RightsCodeWar Of The WorldsGermanyChickensBurnedTowersEmergenciesGangLegislatureSuspendedWorld TradeFirst World War
Author:Kurt Vonnegut
Create image

“And finally, there is another danger: the emergence of nonideological but very aggressive 'isms,' which are really quite new. Let me at least name them: We all care about human rights, but I am afraid of 'human rightism.' We all want to have a healthy environment, but I see the danger in environmentalism. To put it politically correctly, I admire the second gender, but I fear feminism. We all are enriched by other cultures, but not by multiculturalism. I am aware of the importance of voluntary associations, but I fear NGOism.”

WantHumansCareCultureNamesEnvironmentRightsFeminismDangerHealthyLet MeImportanceHuman RightsGenderAdmireAggressiveAssociationMulticulturalismEnvironmentalismEmergencePolitically CorrectIsmsOther CulturesHealthy Environment
Author:Vaclav Klaus
Create image

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”

FirstsHumansGovernmentCareHappinessPoliticalPoliticsObjectsEthicsDestructionHuman RightsHuman LifeAbortionPro LifeLife And HappinessGovernment And PoliticsDemocracy And Human RightsCatholic Pro LifePurpose Of Government
Book:Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness
Create image

“Social media changed Chinese mindset. More and more Chinese intend to embrace freedom of speech and human rights as their birthright, not some imported American privilege. But also, it gave the Chinese a national public sphere for people to, it's like a training of their citizenship, preparing for future democracy.”

PeopleHumansSocialDemocracyRightsMediaChangedSpeechTrainingEmbraceHuman RightsPrivilegeSocial MediaMindsetChineseSpheresFreedom Of SpeechCitizenshipPreparingBirthrightLimiting Freedom Of Expression
Author:Michael Anti
Create image

“The foundations of liberty are private property and the rule of law; this system guarantees the fewest possible forms of injustice, produces the greatest material and cultural progress, most effectively stems violence and provides the greatest respect for human rights. According to this concept of liberalism, freedom is a single, unified concept. Political and economic liberties are as inseparable as the two sides of a medal.”

HumansTwoFormLawPoliticalSidesLibertyRightsProgressViolenceEconomicProduceMaterialsConceptsFoundationPropertyInjusticeHuman RightsLiberalismGuaranteesStemMedalRule Of LawInseparableTwo SidesPrivate PropertyUnified
Author:Mario Vargas Llosa
Create image

“It is not up to us to particularize, but rather to deduce that the concepts of human rights originated from the divine influence because, as far as we are concerned, we are compelled to recognize our slow individual evolution from fierce selfishness toward a universal love, from the iniquity toward true justice.”

HumansIndividualJusticeRightsInfluenceDivineEvolutionConceptsConcernedUniversalHuman RightsSelfishnessFierceCompelledIniquityUniversal LoveTrue Justice
Author:Chico Xavier
Create image

“It was tricky [to write about Israelis], because everyone has an opinion about the Arab - Israeli conflict, and when I first started writing these stories, I was working for an Arab - Israeli human rights group. It was during the Second Intifada. It was this totally violent and intense time, and I think there's a part of me where I don't know how to write about that situation without getting my politics out of my messages, and that's something that was important for me not to do in this book.”

ThinkingKnowsWritingFirstsHumansImportantBookStoriesSituationOpinionKnow HowRightsGroupsConflictMessagesHuman RightsViolentIntenseIsraeliTrickyArab Israeli Conflict
Author:Molly Antopol
Create image

“Often people who already had an interest in human rights work. What I did notice with all of them, even the people who professed to be interested in human rights, was that activism was somewhat a concept in their mind - a symbolic flag on the quad or something to show how many people were starving in the world. But once they saw their efforts connected to a person, I did see a change.”

PeopleWorldMindHumansPersonsShowsInterestEffortSawsRightsConceptsHuman RightsConnectedActivismFlagsStarvingSymbolicQuads
Author:Adam Braver
Create image