Human Rights Day Quotes:

Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity.

- Mother Teresa

topic: Rights, Government, Humanity, Catholic Pro Life, Right To Life

To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.

- Nelson Mandela

topic: Inspiring, Rights, People, Amnesty International, Human Rights Day

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.

topic: Country, Struggle, Rights, Human Rights Day

Human rights is the only ideology that deserves to survive

- Simon Wiesenthal

topic: Rights, Ideology, Humans, 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

source: FaceBook post by Kofi Annan from Apr 15, 2017

topic: Teamwork, Rights, Working Together, Human Rights Day

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

topic: Peace, Rights, People, Individual Rights, Democracy And Human Rights

Human Rights for everyone is the necessary foundation upon which all of us may build a world where everybody may live in peace and serenity and plenty.

- Michael Douglas

topic: Rights, Serenity, World, Peace And Serenity, Human Rights Day

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

topic: Live Life, School, Rights, Human Rights Day

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

- Mary Robinson

topic: Heart, Rights, Long, Proclamation, Lawmakers

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

topic: Home, Rights, Community, Individual Rights, Equal Opportunity

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

- John F. Kennedy

source: 1963 On sending national guardsmen to ensure peaceful integration at the University of Alabama. Address to the nation, 11 Jun.

topic: Freedom, Men, Rights, Equal Rights, Brush Strokes

Tolerance and human rights require each other.

- Simon Wiesenthal

topic: Rights, Tolerance, Human Rights, Religious Tolerance, Human Rights Day

We believe that human rights transcend boundaries and must prevail over state sovereignty.

- Jose Ramos-Horta

source: Jose Ramos-Horta's Nobel Lecture in Oslo. Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1996.

topic: Believe, Rights, Boundaries, Human Rights Day

Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

- Elie Wiesel

topic: Inspirational, Responsibility, Men, Political View, National Borders

Together we can prevent genocide from happening again. Together we can make a better future for our children.

- Dith Pran

topic: Teamwork, Children, Together, Happening Again, Human Rights Day

The UN Declaration of Human Rights laid down what any person might reasonably expect, yet there are remarkably few people who enjoy these rights. With cameras in the hands of activists and meaningful distribution of those images, we will witness what really goes on in this world and hopefully want to change it.

- Peter Gabriel

topic: Meaningful, Rights, Hands, Declaration Of Human Rights, Unesco

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

source: Twitter post from Jan 21, 2016

topic: Justice, Fundamentals, Charity, Hunger And Poverty, Hunger Poverty

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

- Jimmy Carter

source: Jimmy Carter (1995). “Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation”, Puffin

topic: Inspirational, Real, Patriotic, Individual Rights, Rights And Freedoms

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

- Abraham Lincoln

topic: Life, Strong, Freedom, States Rights, Abolition

Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. ... You must weep that your own government, at present, seems blind to this truth.

- Mother Teresa

topic: Government, Rights, Parent, Catholic Pro Life, Right To Life

Please use your freedom to promote ours.

- Aung San Suu Kyi

topic: Freedom, Use, Please, Human Rights Day

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

- Margaret Sanger

source: Woman and the New Race ch. 8 (1920)

topic: Mother, Independent, Doe, International Women's Day, Pro Abortion

From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death,

- Harry A. Blackmun

topic: Machinery, This Day, Capricious, Against Death Penalty, Tinkering

In the future, human rights will be increasingly a universal criterion for designing ethical systems.

- Mahnaz Afkhami

topic: Equality, Rights, Design, Human Rights Day

Its the publicity function of Amnesty that I think has made its name so widely known, not only to readers in the world, but to governments - and thats what matters.

- Peter Benenson

topic: Thinking, Government, Names, Human Rights Day

Open your newspaper - any day of the week - and you will find a report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government.

- Peter Benenson

source: The Observer, May 28, 1961.

topic: Government, World, Opinion, Days Of The Week, Human Rights Day

The connection between women's human rights, gender equality, socioeconomic development and peace is increasingly apparent.

- Mahnaz Afkhami

topic: Equality, Rights, Connections, Economic Development, Gender Equality

Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.

- Pope Francis

topic: Rights, Terrorism, Economic, Human Rights Day

It has long been recognized that an essential element in protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among the population of what their rights are and how they can be defended.

- Boutros Boutros-Ghali

topic: Knowledge, Rights, Long, Human Rights Day

Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.

- Frederick Douglass

topic: Wisdom, Freedom, Men, Abolition Of Slavery, Slavery Freedom

If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible.

- Hillary Clinton

topic: Country, Rights, Minorities, Human Rights Day

So on this Human Rights Day, let us rededicate ourselves to the advancement of human rights and freedoms for all, and pledge always to live by the ideals we promote to the world.

- Barack Obama

source: "Beatings, Protests, Arrests Mark 60th Annual Human Rights Day". www.huffingtonpost.com. January 10, 2009.

topic: Rights, Advancement, World, Pledge, Human Rights Day