Quotes About Rights

And here, without anger or resentment, I bid you farewell. Sincerely wishing, that as men and Christians, ye may always fully and uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right, and be, in your turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.

The rights of men in society, are neither devisable or transferable, nor annihilable, but are descendable only, and it is not in the power of any generation to intercept finally, and cut off the descent. If the present generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen the right of the succeeding generation to be free. Wrongs cannot have a legal descent.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal

The laying of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is

If the present generation, or any other, are disposed to be slaves, it does not lessen the right of the succeeding generation to be free.

Immortal power is not a human right, and therefore cannot be a right of Parliament.

The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the opinions of men change also; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it.

The right of voting for persons charged with the execution of the laws that govern society is inherent in the word liberty, and constitutes the equality of personal rights. But even if that right (of voting) were inherent in property, which I deny, the right of suffrage would still belong to all equally, because, as I have said, all individuals have legitimate birthrights in a certain species of property. -Agrarian Justice

A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

On this question of war, three things are to be considered. First, the rights of declaring it: secondly, the expense of supporting it: thirdly, the mode of conducting it after it is declared.

Thomas Paine

enforce obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for the lives of men are too

Every child born into the world must be considered as deriving its existence from God. The world is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed, and his natural right in it is of the same kind.

Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, nor to have fewer rights than he had before, but to have those rights better secured. His natural rights are the foundation of all his civil rights.

While the Declaration of Rights was before the National Assembly some of its members remarked that if a declaration of rights were published it should be accompanied by a Declaration of Duties. The observation discovered a mind that reflected, and it only erred by not reflecting far enough. A Declaration of rights is, by reciprocity, a Declaration of Duties also. Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.

U zult me toch willen nageven dat ik altijd sterk heb benadrukt dat elk mens het recht heeft op een eigen mening, hoezeer die mening ook van de mijne afwijkt. Hij die een ander dit recht ontzegt, maakt zichzelf tot slaaf van zijn huidige mening, omdat hij zichzelf dan het recht ontneemt deze te veranderen.

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth

Hij die zijn eigen vrijheid veilig wil stellen, moet zelfs zijn vijand tegen onderdrukking beschermen, want als hij die plicht schendt, schept hij een precedent dat op hemzelf terug zal slaan.

Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen; an open and resolute friend; and a virtuous supporter of the RIGHTS of MANKIND, and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA.

Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I answer, the

Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet

as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But

Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard among us, than those of A GOOD CITIZEN, AN OPEN AND RESOLUTE FRIEND, AND A VIRTUOUS SUPPORTER OF THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND OF THE FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA.