Home / Topics / Rights Quotes

Rights Quotes

Browse 5529 quotes about Rights.

Rights Quotes

“The founders understood that democracy would inevitably evolve into a system of legalized plunder unless the plundered were given numerous escape routes and constitutional protections such as the separation of powers, the Bill of Rights, election of senators by state legislators, the electoral college, no income taxation, most governmental functions performed at the state and local levels, and myriad other constitutional limitations on the powers of the central government.”

“Perhaps it will be found that to obtain a just republic (and it is to secure our just rights that we resort to government at all) it must be so extensive as that local egoisms may never reach its greater part; that on every particular question, a majority may be found in its councils free from particular interests, and giving, therefore, an uniform prevalence to the principles of justice.”

Giving May Government Found Interest Justice Principles Greater Rights Particular Majority Locals Secure Republic Uniforms Council Resorts Egoism

Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798

“When we use the term pig, for example, we are referring to the people who systematically violate the peoples' constitutional rights - whether they be monopoly capitalists or police. The term is now being adopted by radicals, hippies, and minority peoples. Even the workers, when the pigs supported strike-breakers like they did as Union Oil where 100 local police came in a cracked strikers' heads, began to call them by their true name.”

“To be clear, civilization is not the same as society. Civilization is a specific, hierarchical organization based on 'power over.' Dismantling civilization, taking down that power structure, does not mean the end of all social order. It should ultimately mean more justice, more local control, more democracy, and more human rights, not less.”

Should Humans Mean Doe Ends Order Social Justice Democracy Clear Rights Civilization Organization Structure Human Rights Locals Social Order

Author:Derrick Jensen

“I spent many years working for voting rights, but we still see sophisticated efforts, led by white officials, to disenfranchise black voters in local and national elections.”

Years Stills Black White Effort Rights Election Locals Officials Voting Voters Sophisticated Right To Vote

Author:Edward Brooke

“Human rights transcend local or ethnocentric values, conferring equal dignity and value on all humanity regardless of sex, ethnicity, sexual preference, or religion. It is in the West that human rights are most respected.”

Humans Values Humanity Sex Rights Equal Dignity West Human Rights Locals Preference Ethnicity

Book:Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy

Source: Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy

“And as a Member of this body, I believe firmly that States do have rights, and I believe that local communities have rights, and they have made decisions to allow these businesses to prosper as they are a big part of their economy.”

Believe Made States Body Bigs I Believe Community Decision Economy Rights Members Locals Local Community

Author:Jon Porter

“On human rights, civil rights and environmental quality, I consider myself to be very liberal. On the management of government, on openness of government, on strengthening individual liberties and local levels of government, I consider myself a conservative. And I don't see that the two attitudes are incompatible.”

Source: Conversations with Carter

“Nationality is not a universal human principle but an historical, local fact...Every nation, even a small one, has its own character, its own particular way of life and manner of speaking, feeling, thinking, and behaving. These distinctive features are the essence of nationality, the product of a nation's entire history and conditions of existence. Every nation, like every individual, is of necessity what it is, and has an unquestionable right to be itself. So-called national rights consist precisely of this.”

Source: Bakunin: Statism and Anarchy

“Anyone who believes in the natural and inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is obliged to accept that individuals have the right to buy and sell alcohol. That's why all the regulations that people take for granted-the restrictions on hours of operation, the ban on Sunday sales, the minimum distance from schools and churches, the minimum age, and the protection of local wineries from competition by wineries in other states-are illegitimate.”

“Americans' liberty is perishing beneath the constant growth of government power. Federal, state and local government's are confiscating citizens' property, trampling their rights, and decimating their opportunities more than ever before.... American liberty can still be rescued from the encroachments of government. The first step to saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose unless fundamental political changes occur.”

“This was a very progressive group of clergy who foresaw the race riots that were going to take place when Dr. King started helping the local civil rights community push for open housing. They were sort of hoping against hope that we could educate kids in a way that could counter some of the racist messages they were imbibing at home. I don't know whether we did any good, but it changed my life in every single way.”

Knows Way Helping Home Kids Community Race Rights Groups Changed Kings Messages Locals Civil Rights Racist Progressive Educate Drs Housing Riot Changed My Life Clergy Imbibing Race Riots

Author:Sara Paretsky