Quotes and Sayings about Human Rights

Men must be free to do what they believe. It is not our right to punish one for thinking what they do, no matter how much we disagree.

Education is the most powerful weapon you can choose to change the world.

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

To overthrow oppression has been sanctioned by humanity and is the highest aspiration of every free man.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.

We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.

Our constitution includes this wonderful article 1: "Human dignity is inviolable." What we're experiencing every day: Aggression against Jews, aggression against immigrants, violence and hate speech - that's what we have to stand up against!

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

There are people who seriously think sea rescue activists like me rescue Black lives because we hate white people. Some white people feel personally threatened by the fact that human rights apply to everyone equally.

We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.

This is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause!

People learn to love their chains.

Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.

Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.

It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.

It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking: How did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue. And maybe we can actually never have it, no matter what. How did he know that?

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

I don't care if you're black, white, straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, short, tall, fat, skinny, rich or poor. If you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you. Simple as that.

You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind

God never made no difference between black, white, blue, pink or green. People is people, y'know. That's the message we try to spread.

Why can't they understand the way we feel?
They just don't trust, what they can't explain
I know we're different, but deep inside us
We're not that different at all

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

Hungry equals cranky. And between us gals, you don't wear cranky well.

Hunger unleashes that madman in us. It is better to eat than to be eaten.

The bedrock of this country are immigration and, really, a great separation between church and state.

I understood from a very young age that school was important and that my parents were making great sacrifices for me. Every morning I saw my father get up and go to a job that he didn't really like. They came to France for the same reasons all immigrants move to another country - so their kids could have a better way of life.

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

It's our "white" responsibility to make sure people who speak out about racism are safe at all times. This means ending structural racism in our societies, authorities and media.

For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Are you ready to give up who you once thought you were? Ready to sacrifice everything you held close? Are you ready to leave your life behind and walk the path of shadows? Then out of the dark, you will come into the light. And from the light, you will return to the dark. Never forget the tenets you have sworn to uphold. Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent. Hide in plain sight. Never compromise the Brotherhood. From this day forward you are a Hidden One. You are nothing!

There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't.

Giving a child an education is by far one of the most important investments we can make.

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.

It is not good to cross the bridge before you get to it.

I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived.

Censorship is saying: "I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine." But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word - even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice.

If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.

Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!

Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.