Suzanne La Follette Quotes

The aim of human rights, if I may borrow a term from engineering, is to move beyond the design and drawing-board phase, to move beyond thinking and talking about the foundations stones - to laying those foundation stones, inch by inch, together.

I am willing to take any measures when it comes to the fundamental principle of human rights.

Human rights is the only ideology that deserves to survive

Human rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation.

Constitutional rights must always come before sensitivities.

The rights to life, liberty and property were not meant to be subject to the vagaries of majority rule.

Human rights must be protected by the rule of law, and there can never be occasions where human rights can be neglected or ignored or the rule of law set aside.

Our collective freedom... depends on our ability to defend the rights of others.

The respect for human rights is one of the most significant advantages of a free and democratic nation in the peaceful struggle for influence, and we should use this good weapon as effectively as possible.

Respect for human rights is not social work; it is not merely an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of government and the source of its legitimacy.

I'm struck by how very few people outside a rarefied world of true believers understand what you mean when you say human rights - that includes development experts and economists who are very keen to implement the UN Millennium Development Goals. They've told me quite frankly, that they don't know exactly what a human rights approach is.

The doctrine that 'human rights' are superior to 'property rights' simply means that some human beings have the right to make property out of others.

Human rights takes history out of justice.

The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities.

We have a list of human rights - right to food, right to shelter, right to health, right to education, many such items which are considered and accepted as bill of rights. These are to be insured to people. So all nations, all societies try to do that.

Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States (Republican, IL)One man's rights should not be sacrificed for another's prejudices. ...

Establish democracy ... based on human rights as superior to property rights.

Today, many human rights take the forms of claims.

In a free Europe... the system of power lies on three pillars. These are democracy, rule of law, and human rights. It's impossible to use one against the other.

Human rights are fundamental rights, they are the minimum, the very least we demand. Too often, they become the goal itself. What should be the minimum becomes the maximum - all we are supposed to expect - but human rights aren't enough. The goal is, and must always be, justice.

We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.

I grew up as a discriminated minority in a dictatorship, so obviously the issue of human rights is a matter of concern for me.

We're most likely to lose our rights when we allow ourselves to be persuaded to deprive others of theirs.

We are fighting for the right to live as free humans in this society. In fact, we are actually fighting for rights that are even greater than civil rights and that is human rights.

The fight for human rights is about speaking truth to power.