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Rights Quotes

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Rights Quotes

“The stories from Iran's present and past are reminders that freedom, democracy and human rights, or fundamentalism, fascism and terrorism are not geographically and culturally determined, but universal.”

Humans Stories Past Democracy Rights Universal Human Rights Terrorism Determined Iran Fascism Fundamentalism Reminders Democracy And Human Rights

Author:Azar Nafisi

“May it not be asked of every intelligent friend to the liberties of his country, whether the power exercised in such an act as this ought not to produce great and universal alarm? Whether a rigid execution of such an act, in time past, would not have repressed that information and communication among the people which is indispensable to the just exercise of their electoral rights? And whether such an act, if made perpetual, and enforced with rigor, would not, in time to come, either destroy our free system of government, or prepare a convulsion that might prove equally fatal to it?”

Source: The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution

“Law hath dominion over all things, over universal mind and matter; For there are reciprocities of rights, which no creature can gainsay.”

Mind Matter Law Rights Creatures All Things Universal Dominion Reciprocity Mind And Matter

Book:Tupper's complete poetical works: containing

Source: Tupper's complete poetical works: containing

“We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind, that is the approval by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Humans Today Nations United Rights Mankind Events Universal Human Rights Approval Declaration United Nations Assembly Threshold Great Events General Assembly Declaration Of Human Rights

Book:The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers

Source: The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers

“With kings, nations, and private individuals, the strongest assume to themselves rights over the weakest, and the same rule is followed by animals, by matter, by the elements, so that everything is performed in the universe by violence. And that order which we blame with some appearance of justice is the most universal, most absolute, most unchangeable, and most ancient law of nature.”

Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that 'if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression', human rights should be protected by the rule of law. That just laws which uphold human rights are the necessary foundation of peace and security would be denied only by closed minds which interpret peace as the silence of all opposition and security as the assurance of their own power.”

“The dissolution of society bids fair to become the termination of a career of which property is the end and aim, because such a career contains the elements of self-destruction. Democracy in government, brotherhood in society, equality in rights and privileges, and universal education, foreshadow the next higher plane of society to which experience, intelligence and knowledge are steadily tending.”

Source: The Indian Journals, 1859-62

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself, and cannot be made by anyone else.”

Humans Made Choices Natural Decision Rights Universal Regard Fundamentals Human Rights Size Units Declaration Choices And Decisions Declaration Of Human Rights

Book:Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos

Source: Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos

“... woman's cause is the cause of the weak; and when all the weak shall have received their due consideration, then woman will have her "rights," and the Indian will have his rights, and the Negro will have his rights, and all the strong will have learned at last to deal justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly; and our fair land will have been taught the secret of universal courtesy which is after all nothing but the art, the science, and the religion of regarding one's neighbor as one's self, and to do for him as we would, were conditions swapped, that he do for us.”

“No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child ... No slave was ever so much the property of his master as the child is of his parent ... Never were the rights of man ever so disregarded as in the case of the child.”

Men Children Problem Social Parent Cases Rights Masters Universal Property Slave Oppression Social Problems Disregarded

Author:Maria Montessori

“If the essence of cynicism consists in preferring nature to art, virtue to beauty and science; in not bothering about the letter of things -- to which the Stoic strictly adheres -- but in looking up to the spirit of things; in absolute contempt of all economic values and political splendor, and in courageous defence of the rights of independent freedom; then Christianity would be nothing but universal cynicism.”

“The history of woman is the history of the continued and universal oppression of one sex by the other. The emancipation of woman is her restoration to equal rights and privileges with man.... Need we wonder, then, at the sad spectacle which humanity offers us? Its hideous wars, its social abominations, its foul creeds, its treacheries, vices, wants, diseases, lusts, tyrannies, and crimes are the natural outcome of the subjugation of one half of the human race by the other.”

“All beings want to live in peace and happiness, undisturbed. Therefore the concept of human rights is universal.”

Want Humans Rights Concepts Universal Human Rights Peace And Happiness

Author:Dalai Lama

“But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

World Heart Government Lasts Fighting Nations Voice Liberty Democracy Rights Authority Universal Safety Concerts Submit Dominion Declaration Of War Small Nations

Author:Woodrow Wilson

“Sexual and reproductive health and rights are universal human rights!They are an indivisible part of the broader human rights and development equation. Their particular power resides in the fact that they deal with the most intimate aspects of our identities as individuals and enable human dignity, which is dependent on control of our bodies, desires and aspirations.”

“In the West we are free to think what we want, to read what we want, to practice our religion, to live as we choose. Liberty is codified in human rights, a magnificent Western creation but also, I believe, a universal good.”

Thinking Want Believe Humans I Believe Liberty Practice Rights Creation Universal West Western Human Rights Magnificent

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

“[T]he liberty, the unalienable, indefeasible rights of men, the honor and dignity of human nature, the grandeur and glory of the public, and the universal happiness of individuals, were never so skillfully and successfully consulted as in that most excellent monument of human art, the common law of England.”

Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

“Contrary to what certain governments say, human rights are universal. Arbitrary detention, torture and discrimination hurt the human dignity of anybody, whatever his or her country of origin, religion, descent, or any other ground.”

Humans Country Government Certain Hurt Rights Dignity Universal Human Rights Contrary Discrimination Torture Arbitrary Descent Human Dignity Detention

Author:Shirin Ebadi

“Terrorists and their allies believe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Bill of Rights and every charter of liberty ever written are lies to be burned and destroyed and forgotten.”

Believe Humans Lying Liberty Rights Written Universal Bills Forgotten Human Rights Terrorist Destroyed Allies Burned Declaration Bill Of Rights Charter Declaration Of Human Rights

Author:George W. Bush

“If we want to avoid a clash of cultures - and the jury is still out on whether we can - we'll have to make different cultures and religions compatible with the universal nature of human rights and tolerance. But I can promise you this: Anyone who calls me an infidel at the conference will be in for a fight.”

“The religious wars showed that the Christian faith was no longer Europe's unifying force. A new common ground was needed, and it was found in reason, which is something that is shared by all of mankind. This was one of the roots of the Enlightenment and its concept of universal human rights.”

“We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe racism and war are wrong. On the other hand, it is our nature to be cooperative and loving almost exclusively with the members of the group to which we feel we belong.”

Thinking World Feels Believe Humans War Hands Animal Rights Groups Members Racism Universal Structure Human Rights Small Groups Cooperatives

Author:Frans de Waal

“If we in Asia want to speak credibly for Asian values, we must be prepared to also champion those ideals which are universal and belong to humanity as a whole...It is altogether shameful, if ingenious, to cite 'Asian values' as an excuse for autocratic practices and the denial of basic rights and civil liberties.”

Ifs Want Whole Values Humanity Speak Liberty Practice Rights Ideals Universal Prepared Excuse Denial Champion Be Prepared Asia Asian Shameful Civil Liberties Ingenious Citing Basic Rights

Author:Anwar Ibrahim

“Your sect [the Jews] by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practised by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions, as they do our civil rights, by putting all on equal footing. But more remains to be done.”

Done Law Suffering Religious Rights Equal Universal Remains Jew Vices Proof Civil Rights Remarkable Inherent Antidote Sects Insolence

Author:Thomas Jefferson

“Mandela's message will never die. It will continue to inspire freedom fighters and give confidence to people who defend just causes and universal rights.”

People Giving Dies Causes Rights Inspire Messages Universal Fighter Freedom Fighter Mandela S

Author:Francois Hollande

“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.”

Believe Humans Important Law Culture Democracy Rights Concepts Universal Agree Human Rights Arguing League Relevance Rule Of Law

Author:Aung San Suu Kyi

“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

“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.”

“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.”

Humans Individual Justice Rights Influence Divine Evolution Concepts Concerned Universal Human Rights Selfishness Fierce Compelled Iniquity Universal Love True Justice

Author:Chico Xavier

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights... stands as a landmark achievement in the history of human liberty.”

Humans Liberty Rights Achievement Universal Human Rights Declaration Landmarks Declaration Of Human Rights

Book:Public paper of the presidents of the United States

Source: Public paper of the presidents of the United States