Quotessence
Home / Topics / Rights Quotes

Rights Quotes

Browse 5529 quotes about Rights.

Related topics

HumansHuman RightsPeopleCivil RightsMenIfsGovernmentLibertyEqualLawThinkingShouldStatesWorldCountryIndividualMovementEqual RightsPoliticalBelieveCitizensGayKnowsWantJusticeNeedsWomens RightsHas BeensFightingWayMeanDemocracyBillsCivil Rights MovementNationsPropertyAmericaConstitutionGivingWarIssuesProtectBill Of RightsPersonsFirstsChildrenSocialWellsDoeAnimalMayYearsImportantUnitedSupportPrinciplesResponsibilityCommunityDutyLongNaturalTodayGay RightsMadeProtectionReligiousValuesInterestKindAnimal RightsBlackEconomicIdeasProperty RightsI BelieveStruggleCertainHuman BeingsStillsTwoSecurityUnited StatesDignityIndividual RightsPrivilegeGroupsFeelsFreedomFundamentalsUseCareWould BeAmendmentsCommonMatterPresidentTryingOrderDemocraticGivenmore

Rights Quotes

“There is always an element of realpolitik that has to be present in the conduct of any nation's national security affairs. At the same time, we have to also have a balance between realpolitik and Wilsonian principles of freedom and democracy and human rights. And maintaining that balance is the greatest challenge that we in the West, including the Federal Republic of Germany, have to face because it's many times a very difficult decision-making process.”

HumansFacesNationsProcessDifficultChallengesDecisionPrinciplesDemocracyRightsSecurityBalanceElementsWestIncludingAffairHuman RightsGermanyDecision MakingRepublicNational SecurityMaintainingDifficult DecisionsDecision Making ProcessDemocracy And Human RightsRealpolitik
Author:John McCain
Create image

“The first year I was in office, only about 800 people came out of the Soviet Union, Jews. By the third year I was in office... second year, 1979, 51,000 came out of the Soviet Union. And every one of the human rights heroes - I'll use the word - who have come out of the Soviet Union, have said it was a turning point in their lives, and not only in the Soviet Union but also in places like Czechoslovakia and Hungary and Poland [they] saw this human rights policy of mine as being a great boost to the present democracy and freedom that they enjoy.”

PeopleYearsFirstsHumansSaidUseEnjoyDemocracySawsRightsPolicyMinesHeroOfficeThirdsUnionsHuman RightsJewSovietSoviet UnionTurning PointsBoostPolandHungaryCzechoslovakia
Author:Jimmy Carter
Create image

“The great ideas of the West - rationalism, self-criticism, the disinterested search for truth, the separation of church and state, the rule of law, equality before the law, freedom of conscience, thought, and expression, human rights, and liberal democracy- quite an achievement, surely, for any civilization- - remain the best, and perhaps the only, means for all people, no matter of what race or creed, to reach their full potential and live in freedom.”

PeopleHumansMeanIdeasSelfMatterStatesLawChurchRaceDemocracyRightsExpressionCivilizationAchievementConscienceCriticismWestHuman RightsSeparationCreedsChurch And StateGreat IdeaRule Of LawSeparation Of Church And StateRationalismFull PotentialSearch For TruthDisinterestedSelf CriticismLiberal Democracy
Book:Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays
Create image

“India's democracy where over 1 billion people have a voice in deciding their future is a world example of how governance can incorporate diversity into a movement for inclusive growth. New modes of democratic engagement, especially through using e-governance are allowing greater access to fundamental rights for all our people.”

PeopleWorldGrowthVoiceDemocracyGreaterRightsExampleMovementDiversityIndiaFundamentalsDemocraticAccessBillionsAllowingEngagementGovernanceFundamental Rights
Author:Narendra Modi
Create image

“Civil rights, as we may remember, are reducible to three primary heads; the right of personal security; the right of personal liberty; and the right of private property. In a state of slavery, the two last are wholly abolished, the person of the slave being at the absolute disposal of his master; and property, what he is incapable, in that state, either of acquiring, or holding, in his own use. Hence, it will appear how perfectly irreconcilable a state of slavery is to the principles of a democracy, which form the basis and foundation of our government.”

MayPersonsTwoStatesUseGovernmentLastsRememberFormThreeLibertyPrinciplesDemocracyRightsSecurityMastersBasesAbsolutesFoundationSlaveryPropertySlaveCivil RightsPrimariesIncapablePrivate PropertyPersonal LibertyPersonal Security
Book:A Dissertation on Slavery: With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia
Create image

“The establishment can't admit [that] it is human rights violations that make ... countries attractive to business - so history has to be fudged, including denial of our support of regimes of terror and the practices that provide favorable climates of investment, and our destabilization of democracies that [don't] meet [the] standard of service to the transnational corporation.”

HumansCountryPracticeSupportDemocracyRightsStandardsInvestmentClimateIncludingHuman RightsTerrorDenialCorporationsAttractiveEstablishmentRegimesViolationTransnational Corporations
Author:Edward S. Herman
Create image

“The United States has given frequent and enthusiastic support to the overthrow of democracy in favor of "investor friendly" regimes. The World Bank, IMF, and private banks have consistently lavished huge sums on terror regimes, following their displacement of democratic governments, and a number of quantitative studies have shown a systematic positive relationship between U.S. and IMF / World Bank aid to countries and their violations of human rights.”

WorldHumansCountryStatesGovernmentGivenUnitedNumbersUnited StatesSupportDemocracyStudyRightsHugeDemocraticHuman RightsTerrorFollowingAidsFavorsFriendlyInvestorsRegimesConsistentlyEnthusiasticViolationSystematicDisplacementDemocratic GovernmentImfWorld BankViolation Of Human RightsPositive Relationship
Author:Edward S. Herman
Create image

“If democracy is destroyed in Britain, it will be not the communists, Trotskyists or subversives but this House which threw it away. The rights that are entrusted to us are not for us to give away. Even if I agree with everything that is proposed, I cannot hand away powers lent to me for five years by the people of Chesterfield. I just could not do it. It would be theft of public rights.”

PeopleIfsGivingYearsHandsWould BeHouseDemocracyFiveRightsAgreeDestroyedFive YearsBritainCommunistTheft
Author:Tony Benn
Create image

“Certainly, if we believe in democracy and democratic systems, when [Benazir Bhutto] failed to pass any legislation, really, at all in her first two years in government during her first term and in fact had a tenure that was marked not only by gross corruption but by human rights abuses, that should have been a time for people to say, "Well, OK, we've given you an opportunity and you haven't bettered the institutions, you haven't strengthened the democratic cause - we may not vote you back."”

PeopleIfsShouldYearsFirstsBelieveHumansWellsMayHas BeensTwoFactsGovernmentOpportunityGivenCausesTermDemocracyRightsHavensShould HaveVoteAbuseInstitutionsDemocraticHuman RightsCorruptionTwo YearsLegislationGrossShould Have BeenTenureBhutto
Author:Fatima Bhutto
Create image

“Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.”

Has BeensGovernmentPoliticalPassionFoundPerfectOpinionDemocracyRightsMankindSecurityPoliticianPropertySpeciesPossessionViolentReducingDemocracies HaveContentionFederalistSpectaclesFederalist PapersTurbulencePolitical RightsPersonal Security
Book:The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes
Create image

“There are those who argue that the concept of human rights is not applicable to all cultures. We in the National League for Democracy believe that human rights are of universal relevance. But even those who do not believe in human rights must certainly agree that the rule of law is most important. Without the rule of law there can be no peace.”

BelieveHumansImportantLawCultureDemocracyRightsConceptsUniversalAgreeHuman RightsArguingLeagueRelevanceRule Of Law
Author:Aung San Suu Kyi
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

“I stand on the shoulders of giants that have gone before me, in terms of affording people like myself, women, the access to democracy, the vote, medical treatment, education, everything that I've been given. It's all been earned. Therefore I feel it's incumbent on me personally to just contribute something, to add to a collective voice that needs to be here right now, to build it up to a tipping point, to make the world aware that women's rights still have to be addressed and that the word 'feminism' has been devalued and needs to be reclaimed.”

PeopleWorldNeedsFeelsHas BeensStillsGivenVoiceTermGoneDemocracyRightsFeminismRight NowVoteAddAccessMedicalShouldersGiantsCollectivesTreatmentWomens RightsIncumbentsTippingTipping PointMedical TreatmentAffording
Author:Annie Lennox
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

“How can we speak of Democracy or Freedom when from the very beginning of life we mould the child to undergo tyranny, to obey a dictator? How can we expect democracy when we have reared slaves? Real freedom begins at the beginning of life, not at the adult stage. These people who have been diminished in their powers, made short-sighted, devitalized by mental fatigue, whose bodies have become distorted, whose wills have been broken by elders who say: "your will must disappear and mine prevail!"-how can we expect them, when school-life is finished, to accept and use the rights of freedom?”

PeopleChildrenHas BeensMadeRealUseBodySchoolLife IsSpeakAcceptingDemocracyRightsStageMinesBrokenAdultsSlaveFinishedDisappearTyrannyDictatorEldersFatigueMouldSchool LifeShort SightedReal FreedomBeginning Of Life
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“The kind of capitalism we are seeing today under this expansion of property into living resources is a whole, new, different phase of capitalism. It is totally inconsistent with democracy as well as with sustainability. What we have is capital working on a global scale, totally uprooted, with accountability nowhere, with responsibility nowhere, and with rights everywhere. This new capital, with absolute freedom and no accountability, is structurally anti-life, anti-freedom.”

WellsKindDifferentWholeTodayResponsibilityDemocracyRightsSeeingCapitalismResourcesAbsolutesPropertyScalesAccountabilitySustainabilityPhasesExpansionInconsistentAbsolute Freedom
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“We all have a responsibility, and as Rabbi Heschel, one of my prophets, has put it: "Those who condone, or are silent, in the face of injustice, are more guilty than the perpetrators." And so, to the degree we pretend to be a democracy, we have a corresponding duty to be activist enough to prevent our human rights form being infringed upon.”

HumansEnoughFacesFormResponsibilityDemocracyRightsDutyDegreesSilentInjusticeHuman RightsGuiltyProphetActivistCorrespondingRabbiPerpetrators
Author:Ray McGovern
Create image