* Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Whatever career you may choose for yourself - doctor, lawyer, teacher - let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of your life. It will make you a better doctor, a better lawyer, a better teacher. It will enrich your spirit as nothing else possibly can. It will give you that rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man. Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

* "we are opposing the exploitation of man by man, similarly we must oppose the exploitation of peoples by other peoples ... but today this is no longer enough ... we have to assist the peoples fighting for their independence to develop their economies, to increase their standard of living" -- Bruno Kreisky

Fear is not the natural state of civilized man. -- Aung San Suu Kyi * "Please use your freedom to promote ours." -- Aung San Suu Kyi * The people of my country want the two freedoms that spell security: freedom from want and freedom from fear. -- Aung San Suu Kyi

* “Sexual abuse and rape in our prisons are the epitome of the dehumanizing nature of our entire correctional system. Prison rape is a human rights issue; it's a public health issue; and it's a public safety issue.” -- Barbara Lee

* Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.  -- Abraham Lincoln To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” -- Abraham Lincoln

* All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions. -- John Locke

* Even strong as they are today, rich countries should have no illusion: nobody is safe in aworld of injustices.War will never bring security.War can only generate monsters: bitterness, intolerance, fundamentalism, and the damaging denial of current hegemonies.The poor must be given reasons to live, not to kill or die. -- Lula

* 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

By a divine paradox, wherever there is one slave there are two.  So in the wonderful reciprocities of being, we can never reach the higher levels until all our fellows ascend with us. 
-- Edwin Markham

* “Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.” -- Bob Marley * “Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.” -- Bob Marley

* All men are by nature born equally free and independent. -- George Mason

* 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

* 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, Guatemala Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1992

An injustice committed against anyone is a threat to everyone.
-- Montesquieu

* "I feel more motivated and happy because there are people interested in our problem, people that care for us and support us in our fight for human liberty. I have a great emotion because I know now that we are not struggling alone against human rights violation.” -- Aktham Naisse

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

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communist and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionists. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Pastor Niemoeler

* The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with. -- Eleanor Holmes Norton

And we who have toiled for freedom's law, have we sought for freedom's soul?
Have we learned at last that human right is not a part but the whole?
-- John Boyle O'Reilly

* “Caged birds sing of freedom, free birds fly.” -- Thorolf Rafto

* We believe that human rights transcend boundaries and must prevail over state sovereignty. -- José Ramos-Horta

* "A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess." -- A. Philip Randolph

* Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts. -- Mary Robinson

I believe we should try to move away from the vocabulary and attitudes which shape the stereotyping of developed and developing country approaches to human rights issues. We are collective custodians of universal human rights standards, and any sense that we fall into camps of “accuser” and “accused” is absolutely corrosive of our joint purposes. 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.. 
-- Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

"Human rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation."
-- Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

"Nations will rise and fall, but equality remains the ideal.  The universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human race, not just for the dominant few."
-- Carlos P. Romulo

Human Rights Quotes

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