Universal Quotes

• You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.

  Tim Berners-Lee

  Space, Propose

  "Frequently asked questions". www.w3.org. 1998.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Positive, Happiness

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [259]

  171 Copy quote

  Show source

• Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.

  Paulo Coelho

  Powerful, Soul, Alchemist

  "The Alchemist". Book by Paulo Coelho, 1988.

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs ... Ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same. Freedom not tyranny. Democracy not dictatorship. The rule of law not the rule of the secret police. The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defence and our first line of attack.

  Tony Blair

  Gun, Law, Western Values

  Address to Congress Accepting Congressional Gold Medal, delivered 17 July 2003, Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• In these days of political, personal and economic disintegration, music is not a luxury, it's a necessity; not simply because it is therapeutic, nor because it is the universal language, but because it is the persistent focus of our intelligence, aspiration and goodwill.

  Robert Lawson Shaw

  Music, Luxury, Focus

  87 Copy quote

• God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.

  Giordano Bruno

  Spiritual, Substance, Fountain

  16 Copy quote

• The 'almighty dollar' is the true divinity, and its worship is universal.

  Isabella Bird

  Money, Dollars, Divinity

  Isabella L. Bird (2012). “A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains”, p.127, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• As the few adepts in such things well know, universal morality is to be found in little everyday penny-events just as much as in great ones. There is so much goodness and ingenuity in a raindrop that an apothecary wouldn't let it go for less than half-a-crown.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Everyday, Let It Go, Pennies

  "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook B 33, 1799.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• As an artist you're looking for universal triggers. You want it both ways. You want it to have an immediate impact, and you want it to have deep meanings as well. I'm striving for both. But I hate it when people write things that sound like they've swallowed a f... dictionary.

  Damien Hirst

  Hate, Writing, Artist

  39 Copy quote

• I feel that faith and feminism have a deep relationship to each other and that both are responses to the deep human yearning for connection and for peace on earth, and that they both have a vision of universal human equity.

  Helen LaKelly Hunt

  God, Vision, Feminism

  4 Copy quote

• The lessons of nonviolence are universal. Not just for America.

  John Lewis

  America, Lessons, Nonviolence

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The idea of universal human rights may not seem as weird to some people as the idea of a personal God, but it is still a metaphysical idea that liberalism, at least as we know it, couldn't really survive without.

  Ross Douthat

  Ideas, Rights, People

  Source: www.christianpost.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• There was a deliberate decision after the failure of the League of Nations to make the next attempt to establish a global political actor sensitive to geopolitical realities. The underlying idea was to provide major states, defined in 1945 by reference to the winners in the Second World War (now an anachronism), with assurance that they could take part in the UN without jeopardising their national interests. In this regard, the UN has succeeded, as none of the big countries has withdrawn, and the Organisation has managed to achieve virtually universal membership of all sovereign states.

  Richard A. Falk

  Country, War, Reality

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The UDHR has become an iconic document over the course of more than six decades, the starting point for discussions of whether or not the rights as set forth are truly universal or slanted to reflect the hegemony of Western values, especially those associated with liberal individualism.

  Richard A. Falk

  Western Values, Rights, Six

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• On the one side, I welcome prosecutions of individuals such as Pinochet, and would welcome the indictment, prosecution, and punishment of Kissinger. On the other side is the geopolitical reality that only those in the global South are likely to experience the impact of Universal Jurisdiction.

  Richard A. Falk

  Reality, Impact, Punishment

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• This issue of expanding the reach of international criminal law by reliance on the use of Universal Jurisdiction by domestic courts needs to be balanced against the injustice of according impunity to those with strong geopolitical backing. It is notable that several western European countries backtracked on UJ after threats of retaliatory moves by the United States and Israel. There is no doubt that the domain of UJ is a geopolitical battleground.

  Richard A. Falk

  Country, Strong, Moving

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The fact that Universal Jurisdiction exists in relation to serious international crimes does convey two important aspects of the global reality: first, that such individuals would be held accountable if international law was applied without regard to geopolitics, and second, that there is enough ambiguity about the reach of UJ that it inhibits such individuals and conveys an impression of de facto criminality.

  Richard A. Falk

  Reality, Law, Two

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The weaknesses and biases of the international mechanisms of accountability make it seem desirable to extend the domain of accountability by empowering domestic courts to act as agents of the world legal system. Even if there is no consistent application of Universal Jurisdiction, it still leads those who might be prosecuted to alter their travel plans to avoid even the complication of waiting for a complaint to be dismissed.

  Richard A. Falk

  Waiting, Accountability, Empowering

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• On the cautionary side, Universal Jurisdiction could be used to achieve some kind of ideologically motivated criminalisation of 'the other' that would discredit and derail a constructive effort to develop a credible meta-law that governs the behaviour of leaders of sovereign states.

  Richard A. Falk

  Law, Leader, Effort

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is on balance desirable to encourage Universal Jurisdiction, and to create pressure from below to make application of such jurisdiction as consistent as possible. I think this will act as a deterrent in some situations, although this impact will never be acknowledged by those affected as it would only embolden civil society to intensify its pressures.

  Richard A. Falk

  Thinking, Impact, Balance

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's been a long time since universal suffrage, and I'm sick of the old white men running the show.

  Cate Blanchett

  Running, Men, White Man

  Source: www.elle.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• As Muslims, we are all equals, we abide by the laws and we understand that we have to be active citizens wherever we are. Our goals are first to live by our principles, to remind people of these values, to reconcile our respective societies with these shared universal values and to try our best to push for a spiritual agenda with more ethics in society, in politics, in economics, and in culture.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Spiritual, Law, People

  3 Copy quote

• The singularity of Islam is its universality. As American citizens and as Muslims, you need to show there is something specific, namely our moral singularity. We believe there is one God and this one God is pushing us to reach universal values by liberating ourselves from our ego and by serving humanity. We must be involved in this by all means necessary, in a nonviolent way, through the legal, media, economic and cultural systems. We cannot achieve this if there is no courage, if we are not ready to sacrifice.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Believe, Mean, Sacrifice

  "Tariq Ramadan: My Absence Would Certainly Be The Most Powerful Speech I Have Ever Given At ISNA". Interview with Amina Chaudary, www.theislamicmonthly.com. August 14, 2014.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't see myself as a deep philosopher. The things I write about tend to be what we all have to face, or consider, or experience, that I talk about with my friends and brothers. It's universal stuff, told in my own voice, my own details and truth, which is all I have to offer.

  Anne Lamott

  Brother, Writing, Voice

  Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The stuff I write about is pretty universal, the things my closest friends and I talk about - our anxiety about being here on this scary planet, during these scary times, as vulnerable as kittens, having lost so many people I couldn't live without.

  Anne Lamott

  Writing, People, Anxiety

  Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source