Dignity
QUOTES
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“Today,
no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights
crises in one part of the world from national
security crises in another. What begins with the
failure to uphold the dignity of one life all
too often ends with a calamity for entire nations.”
--
Kofi Annan
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"Human
rights education is much more than a lesson in
schools or a theme for a day; it is a process
to equip people with the tools they need to live
lives of security and dignity. On this International
Human Rights Day, 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
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“In
the 21st century, I believe the mission of the United
Nations will be defined by a new,
more profound awareness of the sanctity and dignity
of every human life, regardless of race or religion.”
-- Kofi Annan
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Dignity
consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness
that we deserve them.
-- Aristotle
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...democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human
dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency
cannot survive it. As you put more and more people
into the world, the value of life not only declines,
it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
The more people there are, the less one individual
matters.
-- Isaac Asimov
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It
is up to each and every one of us to raise our
voice against crimes that deprive countless victims
of their liberty, dignity and human rights. We
have to work together to realize the equal rights
promised to all by the United Nations Charter.
And we must collectively give meaning to the words
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that
“no one shall be held in slavery or servitude”.
-- Ban Ki-moon
...let
us reaffirm the inherent dignity of all men, women
and children. And let us redouble our efforts
to build societies in which slavery truly is a
term for the history books.
-- Ban Ki-moon
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"Creating
a world that is truly fit for children does
not imply simply the absence of war. It means
having the confidence that our children would
not die of measles or malaria. It means having
access to clean water and proper sanitation.
It means having primary schools nearby that
educate children, free of charge. It means changing
the world with children, ensuring their right
to participate, and that their views are heard
and considered. It means building a world fit
for children, where every child can grow to
adulthood in health, peace and dignity."
-- Carol
Bellamy
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The
primal principle of democracy
is the worth and dignity of the individual.
-- Edward Bellamy
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There
can be no real growth without healthy populations.
No sustainable development without tackling disease
and malnutrition. No international security without
assisting crisis-ridden countries. And no hope
for the spread of freedom, democracy and human
dignity unless we treat health as a basic human
right.
-- Gro
Brundtland
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Peace
is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting.
Peace, to have meaning for many who have known only
suffering in both peace and war, must be translated
into bread or rice, shelter, health, and education,
as well as freedom and human dignity - a steadily
better life. If peace is to be secure, long-suffering
and long-starved, forgotten peoples of the world,
the underprivileged and the undernourished, must
begin to realize without delay the promise of a
new day and a new life.
-- Ralph J. Bunche
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From
the depth of need and despair, people can work
together, can organize themselves to solve their
own problems and fill their own needs with dignity
and strength.
--
Cesar Chavez
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Where
is there dignity unless there is honesty?
-- Cicero
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In
our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all
our people with fairness and dignity, regardless
of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
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~ Bill Clinton
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"All human beings, whatever their cultural or
historical background, suffer when they are intimidated,
imprisoned or tortured . . . We must, therefore,
insist on a global consensus, not only on the
need to respect human rights worldwide, but also
on the definition of these rights . . . for it
is the inherent nature of all human beings to
yearn for freedom, equality and dignity, and they
have an equal right to achieve that."
--
14th Dalai
Lama
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The
privacy and dignity of our citizens [are] being
whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps.
Taken individually, each step may be of little
consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there
begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we
have seen -- a society in which government may
intrude into the secret regions of a [person’s]
life.
-- Justice
William O. Douglas
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Non-cooperation
is an attempt to awaken the masses, to a sense
of their dignity and power. This can only be done
by enabling them to realize that they need not
fear brute force, if they would but know the soul
within.”
-- Mohandas K.
Gandhi
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..the
United States is subject to the scrutiny of a
candid world ... what the United States does,
for good or for ill, continues to be watched by
the international community, in particular by
organizations concerned with the advancement of
the rule of law and respect for human dignity.
-- Ruth Bader
Ginsburg
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"Women's
rights are an essential part of the overall human
rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and
ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy."
-- Ruth Bader
Ginsburg
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Patriotism
... is a superstition artificially created and
maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods;
a superstition that robs man of his self-respect
and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.
-- Emma
Goldman
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Let us never cease to feel compassion for those
in want. Let us never tire of helping victims
of injustice and oppression. He who puts his faith
in the restoration of human dignity cannot be
wrong.
-- Poul Hartling
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We
must work to ensure the human dignity that comes with
a life free from hunger and poverty."
-- Julian R. Hunte, Former President of the UN General
Assembly
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I pledge to protect the earth
And respect the Web of Life upon it
And to honor the dignity of every member of our
global family
One planet, one people, one world in harmony
With peace, justice and freedom for all.
-- John Ince
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"Having
visited Oxfam-funded school programs in rural
communities has made me realise how vital education
is to developing countries in bringing people
out of poverty and giving them a sense of dignity,
self-worth and confidence."
-- Scarlett
Johansson
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"I'm not a statistician, but it doesn't take a
genious to work out that 100 million children
being denied an education is ridiculous. There
is nothing lost in translation here, it's obvious
that's wrong.
-- Scarlett
Johansson
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This is peace with dignity. This is peace with commitment.
This is our gift to our peoples and the generations
to come…It will be real, as we open our hearts and
minds to each other.
-- King Hussein
of Jordan |
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The
breakage and agony rending us today will be our
salvation if they drive us by new routes to meet
it. . . . As of old we must be our own seers,
musicians and explorers, and to an extent vaster
than ever before. This is the purpose to which
we are being summoned to harness our world-body!...Heroic
responses in ideals and in conduct are a choice
of regal dignity in the presence of a new earth
and Heaven.
-- Helen Keller
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“I
believe in human dignity as the source of national
purpose, human liberty as the source of national
action, the human heart as the source of national
compassion, and in the human mind as the source
of our invention and our ideas”
-- John F.
Kennedy
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"...if
we want to meet the obligations of our civilization
and our culture which are to create communities
for our children that provide them with the same
opportunities for dignity and enrichment as the
communities that our parents gave us, we've got
to start by protecting that infrastructure; the
air that we breathe, the water that we drink,
the landscapes that enrich us."
~ Robert
Kennedy, Jr.
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There
can be no peace without justice and respect for
human rights. I passionately believe in the power
of human rights as a set of global values to bring
our fractured and divided world together. Around
the world human rights activists are giving hope
to millions of people - women, indigenous people,
the poor and the marginalised - in their struggle
for equality and dignity.
-- Irene Khan
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"Democracy is the absolute value that makes
for human dignity, as well as the only road to
sustained economic development and social justice."
-- Kim Dae-jung
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We
must forever conduct our struggle on the high
plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow
our creative protest to degenerate into physical
violence. Again and again we must rise to the
majestic heights of meeting physical force with
soul force. -- Martin
Luther King, Jr.
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"All
labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."
-- Martin Luther
King, Jr.
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look forward confidently to the day when all who
work for a living will be one with no thought to
their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or
any other distinctions. This will be the day when
we bring into full realization the American dream
-- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality
of opportunity, of privilege and property widely
distributed; a dream of a land where men will not
take necessities from the many to give luxuries
to the few; a dream of a land where men will not
argue that the color of a man's skin determines
the content of his character; a dream of a nation
where all our gifts and resources are held not for
ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for
the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where
every man will respect the dignity and worth of
the human personality. --
Martin Luther King,
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"What
an extraordinary time to be alive. We’re the first
people on our planet to have real choice: we can
continue killing each other, wiping out other species,
spoiling our nest. Yet on every continent a revolution
in human dignity is emerging. It is re-knitting
community and our ties to the earth. So we do have
a choice. We can choose death; or we can choose
life."
-- Frances Moore Lappé |
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Well-fed
people can enhance their dignity, their health
and their learning capacity. Putting resources
into social programs is not expenditure. It is
investment.
-- Luiz Lula da Silva
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Overcoming
poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an
act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental
human right, the right to dignity and a decent
life . . .
--
Nelson Mandela
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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 |
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"The basic goal of labor will not change. It is
-- as it has always been, and I am sure always will
be -- to better the standards of life for all who
work for wages and to seek decency and justice and
dignity for all Americans."
-- George Meany |
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You
are a human being. You have rights inherent in
that reality. You have dignity and worth that
exists prior to law.
-- Lyn Beth Neylon
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"Refugee
problems may often seem intractable but they are
not insoluble. In our experience there are two
basic prerequisites for solution: the political
will of leaders to tackle the causes and to settle
for peace, and international determination to
push for peace and then to consolidate it. Consolidating
peace means helping societies emerging from war
to reintegrate refugees in safety and dignity,
to rebuild their institutions - including in the
field of justice and human rights - and to resume
their economic development."
-- Sadako Ogata
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In
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December
1948) in most solemn form, the dignity of a person
is acknowledged to all human beings; and as a
consequence there is proclaimed, as a fundamental
right, the right of free movement in search for
truth and in the attainment of moral good and
of justice, and also the right to a dignified
life.
-- Pope John XXIII, 1881-1963 Pacem in Terris,
1963
Let
us not accept violence as the way of peace. Let
us instead begin by respecting true freedom: the
resulting peace will be able to satisfy the world's
expectations, for it will be a peace built on
justice, a peace founded on the incomparable dignity
of the free human being.
-- Pope John Paul II
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Basically
we could not have peace, or an atmosphere in
which peace could grow, unless
we recognized the rights of individual human
beings... their importance, their dignity...
and agreed that was the basic thing that had
to be accepted throughout the world. --
Eleanor
Roosevelt
Where,
after all, do universal human rights begin?
In small places, close to home - so close and
so small that they cannot be seen on any maps
of the world ... Such are the places where every
man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal
opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
Unless these rights have meaning there, they
have little meaning anywhere. -- Eleanor
Roosevelt
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“When
an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge
his dignity as a human being,
his very act of protest confers dignity on him.”
-- Bayard Rustin
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Our
interconnectedness on the planet is the dominating
truth of the 21st century. One stark result is
that the world's poor live, and especially die,
with the awareness that the United States is doing
little to mobilise the weapons of mass salvation
that could offer them survival, dignity and eventually
the escape from poverty. -- Jeffrey
Sachs
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“When
an individual is protesting society's refusal
to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his
very act of protest confers dignity on him.” --
Bayard Rustin Disobedience, the rarest and most
courageous of the virtues, is seldom distinguished
from neglect, the laziest and commonest of the
vices.
-- George Bernard
Shaw
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Decent
work is at the heart of the search for dignity
for the individual, stability for the family
and peace in the community
-- Juan Somavia
Labour
markets are about people. And people have a
right to be treated with dignity and respect.
-- Juan Somavia
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I would say that the surest measure of a man's
or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy,
and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the
pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.
-- Dr. Benjamin
Spock
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"I
don’t belong to a church or political party or a
group of any kind. I feel that Amnesty International
is the most civilized organization in history. Its
currency is the written word. Its weapon is the
letter; that’s why I am a member. I believe in its
non-violence; I believe in its effectiveness. Its
dignity and its sense of commitment. Its focus on
individuals and the concentration and tenacity with
which they defend those imprisoned for their ideas
has earned it the cautious respect of repressive
governments throughout the world."
-- Sting |
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The
essence of spirituality is the duty to live to
its full the glorious destiny of being human.
The purpose of religion should be to empower all
people in this adventure of living with dignity
and fulfillment.
-- Swami Agnivesh
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"We
must build a new world, a far better world -- one in
which the eternal dignity of man is respected."
-- Harry S. Truman
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"We,
the peoples of the United Nations, determined
to save succeeding generations from the scourge
of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought
untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith
in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person, in the equal right
of men and women and of nations large and small....And
for these ends to practice tolerance and live
together in peace with one another as good neighbors...have
resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish
these aims."
-- Preamble, Charter of the United Nations.
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Today,
I wish that the millions of displaced people would
be able to return with the necessary conditions
of safety and dignity, that people in exile could
return to their home-country as the intelligence
is needed, that cruelty, political killings, poverty
and hunger cease. I wish that our people recover
their dignity, truth is revealed and justice exists.
-- Alirio Uribe
Muñoz
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We
respect the dignity and the rights of every man
and every nation. The path to a brighter future
of the world leads through honest reconciliation
of the conflicting interests and not through hatred
and bloodshed. To follow that path means to enhance
the moral power of the all-embracing idea of human
solidarity.
-- Lech Walesa
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Not
only do I pray for it, on the score of human dignity,
but I can clearly forsee that nothing but the rooting
out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union,
by consolidating it in a common bond of principle.
-- George Washington
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Let
not men then in the pride of power, use the same
arguments that tyrannic kings and venal ministers
have used, and fallaciously assert that women
ought to be subjected because she has always been
so.... It is time to effect a revolution in female
manners -- time to restore to them their lost
dignity.... It is time to separate unchangeable
morals from local manners.
-- Mary
Wollstonecraft
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I
love life and want to hold onto it. But my passion
for justice for my tormented people, for their
dignity and freedom, must be greater still. For
of what value is a life of slavery, of humiliation
and
contempt for that which you hold most dear: Your
identity! I will therefore not give in to the
Turkish Inquisition.
-- Leyla Zana
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