Inalienable Rights Quotes

• Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.

  Maximilien Robespierre

  Freedom, Men, Rights

  'Dèclaration des droits de l'homme' 24 April 1793, article 6; this article, in slightly different form, is recorded as having figured in Robespierre's Projet of 21 April 1793

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• Government itself is founded upon the great doctrine of the consent of the governed, and has its cornerstone in the memorable principle that men are endowed with inalienable rights.

  Leland Stanford

  Memorable, Men, Rights

  Leland Stanford (1887). “Co-operation of Labor: Views of Senator Leland Stanford of California. An Interview ...”

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• Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.

  Ronald Reagan

  Rights, Government, Liberty

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “Speaking My Mind: Selected Speeches”, p.33, Simon and Schuster

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• America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible. We don't get inalienable rights from the Constitution; we get them from God.

  Dennis Prager

  Rights, Law, America

  "A Response to My Many Critics - And a Solution" by Dennis Prager, www.realclearpolitics.com. ecember 05, 2006.

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• No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Equality, Men, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.278

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• If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Men, Rights, Progress

  Calvin Coolidge (2001). “The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century”, Images from the Past Incorporated

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• Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Pursuit Of Happiness, Government, People

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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• 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.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Change, Happiness

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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• And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Support, Independence

  Declaration of Independence (1776)

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• Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.

  Germaine Greer

  Humans, Human Beings, Self Discovery

  The Times 1 Feb. 1986

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• We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Unalienable Rights, Sacred

  Declaration of Independence (1776)

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• Questions of natural right are triable by their conformity with the moral sense and reason of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Moral, Conformity

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.618

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• Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

  Walter E. Williams

  Men, Independence, Unalienable Rights

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• 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 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.

  Cory Doctorow

  Happiness, Men, Power

  Cory Doctorow (2010). “Little Brother”, p.235, Tor Teen

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• An equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Equality, Men, Law

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”

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• The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Justice, Citizens

  Thomas Jefferson (1861). “Correspondence”, p.574

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• The constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.

  John Ciardi

  Funny, Umpires, America

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• Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Rights, Morality

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.459, Penguin

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• The chief duty of governments, in so far as they are coercive, is to restrain those who would interfere with the inalienable rights of the individual, among which are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness and the right to worship God according to the dictates of ones conscience.

  William Jennings Bryan

  Pursuit Of Happiness, Rights, Government

  William Jennings Bryan (1917). “Heart to Heart Appeals”

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• Too many Americans now believe that the checks they receive every month from the unemployment office - like the checks they get from the welfare office, from Medicare, from Social Security - are inalienable rights. They are not.

  Ben Shapiro

  Believe, Rights, Office

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• The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual.

  Ronald Reagan

  Father, Teaching, Rights

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan)., Ronald Reagan, United States. Office of the Federal Register (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

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• Of distinction by birth or badge, [Americans] had no more idea than they had of the mode of existence in the moon or planets. They had heard only that there were such, and knew that they must be wrong.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Moon, Ideas, Birth

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Miscellaneous: 4. Parliamentary manual; 5. The anas; 6. Miscellaneous papers”, p.270

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• To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Privilege, Spirit, Members

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin”, p.394

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• In America, no other distinction between man and man had ever been known but that of persons in office exercising powers by authority of the laws, and private individuals. Among these last, the poorest laborer stood on equal ground with the wealthiest millionaire, and generally on a more favored one whenever their rights seem to jar.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Men, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.40, Modern Library

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• The principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Rights, Law

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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