Quotes About Rights

Is it my business if somebody wants to burn a flag?...No, it's not...That's called logic and it'll help us all evolve.

Hong Kong's people will get what they want, despite China's objections. Freedom invariably wins in the end.

No. What would I look like fighting for equality with the white man? I don't want to go down that low. I want the true democracy that'll raise me and that white man up raise America up.

I don't mind it if blacks want equal rights, as long as they mean rights equal to a dog

Any state that justifies and defends the use of torture claims for itself special rights over any other consideration.

Paul understood that pressing his rights at the expense of God's purposes would be wrong

There's no room for human rights in a government waiting room.

I may not agree with what you have to say but I will fight you to the death for the right to fight you to the death.

Freedom is the most expensive commodity on earth….

Women living in America in the mid-1800s were the legal property of their husbands. A married woman had no right to property, no right to buy and sell real estate in her own name, no right to bequeath any property whatsoever to an heir. A married woman of the time had no right even to her own children. And, needless to say, she had no right to the vote.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: The Right Is Ours. Oxford University Press: USA, 2001

It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so fucking what?

It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what." [ I saw hate in a graveyard -- Stephen Fry , The Guardian, 5 June 2005]

It's funny how he won't give up the idea of the attack on his daughter. I suppose there was more at risk. The car is property and insurable. The sex rights in his daughter are property too, but not insurable, or at any rate not insured. So it is more interesting that his daughter should have been at risk than his car.

Even a man accused of the worst act of terrorism ever committed in this country - especially such a man - is entitled to the best possible defense. This concept is a cornerstone of our justice system.

Speaking personally, you can have my gun, but you'll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding.

Speaking personally, you can have my gun, but you'll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding.

We based our government on the doctrine promulgated in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created free and equal and are by nature entitled to certain inalienable rights, which are mentioned in the declaration. We did not say that all men in the United States were born free and equal, but we said that all men, wherever they are born, stand on terms of equality.…

Americans and their orthodontistry, honestly, you'd think the right to a brilliant smile was enshrined in the constitution.

In a 1774 court case, Adams wrote that "an Englishman's dwelling House is his Castle," and that every person "shall enjoy in his own dwelling House as compleat a security, safety and Peace and Tranquility as if it was . . . defended with a Garrison and Artillery."67 Adams exercised the right personally—when he sailed to France in 1778, he took along a pocket pistol.68

Joseph Spencer sent Madison a copy of John Leland's "Objections to the Constitution," which began: "There is no Bill Rights, whenever a Number of men enter into a State of Society, a Number of individual Rights must be given up to Society, but there should always be a memorial of those not surrendered . . . . "6 Madison would meet with Leland and win him over to the federalist cause.

the Tenth Amendment clarifies that governmental powers are either "delegated" or "reserved," in contrast with rights of the people, which may not be "infringed" or "violated." The people also have powers that are "reserved.

Patrick Henry shot back that the power to resist oppression rests upon the right to possess arms: Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.

Even so, the right of a pacifist not to bear arms was recognized too: "No person who is conscientiously scrupulous about the lawfulness of bearing arms, shall be compelled thereto, provided he will pay an equivalent."98 To be sure, the Bill of Rights had limits. The Protestant religion was state supported, and only Christians "shall be equally under the protection of the law."99 Freedom of speech was recognized only in the legislature.