Human Rights Quotes - Page 4

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  No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.

  Robin Williams

  Inspirational, Change, Philosophy

  "Robin Williams: Genie in the Lamp" by Alex Kip, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 14, 2014.

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• Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day.

  Aung San

  Rights, Order, Deny

  Acceptance message for the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, July 1991.

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• We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.

  Rigoberta Menchu

  Zoos, Past, Racism

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• ...let us continue to work together to develop and nurture in future generations a culture of human rights, to promote freedom, security and peace in all nations.

  Kofi Annan

  Teamwork, Rights, Working Together

  FaceBook post by Kofi Annan from Apr 15, 2017

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• ..I think there is less cynicism about human rights than there was. The work we are doing is part of the overall pattern of human development, whatever the political system, whatever the country, whatever the cultural background, whatever the religion.

  Martin Ennals

  Country, Thinking, Rights

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• I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.

  Euripides

  Freedom, Feet, Knees

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• Because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Inspirational, Motivational, Men

  Madeleine L'Engle (2008). “The Young Unicorns”, p.202, Macmillan

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• The cost in human lives and suffering is so high that we all have to work to end violence and oppression once and for all. We have to proclaim that every human being is equal, in dignity, in freedom -and, as the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, we have to live in a spirit of brotherhood.

  Federico Mayor Zaragoza

  Rights, Brotherhood, Suffering

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• I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be full citizens in this country. They are not-in Mississippi. They are not-in Montgomery. That is why I am here today. . . . You want to shut up every colored person who wants to fight for the rights of his people!.

  Paul Robeson

  Country, Struggle, Fighting

  Paul Robeson (1998). “Here I Stand”, p.42, Beacon Press

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• Every man has a right to his own opinion. Every race has a right to its own action; therefore let no man persuade you against your will, let no other race influence you against your own.

  Marcus Garvey

  Men, Race, Action

  Marcus Garvey (2015). “Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey”, p.12, Ravenio Books

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• No, you can't deny women their basic rights and pretend it's about your 'religious freedom'. If you don't like birth control, don't use it. Religious freedom doesn't mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs.

  Barack Obama

  Religious, Freedom, Women

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• The sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Summer, Autumn, Equality

  I Have a Dream, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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• The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.

  Aung San Suu Kyi

  Struggle, Rights, Political

  Aung San Suu Kyi's Opening Keynote Address at NGO Forum on Women, Beijing China, gos.sbc.edu. August 31, 1995.

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  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.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Children

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• There is no road to freedom, freedom is the road.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Freedom

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• Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.

  U Thant

  Respect, United Nations, Humans

  "Portfolio for Peace", (p. 92), 1968.

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• A century that began with children having virtually no rights is ending with children having the most powerful legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects their human rights.

  Carol Bellamy

  Children, Powerful, Rights

  "Child abuse and exploitation still a grim reality". Interview with Kanaha Sabapathy, www.radioaustralia.net.au. March 19, 2012.

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• Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Sea, Rights, Territory

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1960). “The Journals”

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• That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.

  Haile Selassie

  Dream, Philosophy, Eye

  Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 6 October 1963

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• In the future, human rights will be increasingly a universal criterion for designing ethical systems.

  Mahnaz Afkhami

  Future, Equality, Rights

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• If the equality of individuals and the dignity of man be myths, they are myths to which the republic is committed.

  Howard Mumford Jones

  Men, Rights, Republic

  Howard Mumford Jones (1952). “The Bright Medusa”

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• The reality is that no group of countries has any grounds for complacency about its own human rights performance and no group of countries does itself justice by automatically slipping into the "victim" mode . . . .

  Kofi Annan

  Country, Reality, Rights

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• The UN Declaration of Human Rights laid down what any person might reasonably expect, yet there are remarkably few people who enjoy these rights. With cameras in the hands of activists and meaningful distribution of those images, we will witness what really goes on in this world and hopefully want to change it.

  Peter Gabriel

  Meaningful, Hands, Rights

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• We will have an unchallenged, open, panoramic opportunity on a global scale to demonstrate the finest aspects of what we know in this country: peace, freedom, democracy, human rights, benevolent sharing, love, the easing of human suffering.
  Is that going to be our list of priorities or not?

  Jimmy Carter

  Inspirational, Country, Business

  "Jimmy Carter on The American Dream". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org.

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• The Universal Declaration... as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations...it not only crystallizes the political thought of our times on these matters, but it has also influenced the thinking of legislators all over the world.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Thinking, Achievement, Political

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