The definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government.

Because finally, ‘the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his religion according to the dictates of conscience’ is held by the same tenure with all his other rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consider the ‘Declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis and foundation of government,’ it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or rather studied emphasis.

In suits at common law, trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature.

Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy.

We look back, already, with astonishment, at the daring outrages committed by despotism, on the reason and rights of man; we look forward with joy, to the period, when it shall be despoiled of all its usurpations, and bound forever in the chains, with which it had loaded its miserable victims.

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.

It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Govt. from interference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others.

The preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained; but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the great Barrier which defends the rights of the people. The Rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission from which they derive their authority and are Tyrants. The people who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves nor by an authority derived from them, and are slaves.

Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe until a trespass on the Constitution provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that resents and invasion of the dearest rights…

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.

When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.

As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

There have been tons of politicians who were slow to accept equal rights when it meant changes in the established social order. Many eventually came around, admitted they were wrong, and were forgiven. But the ones who actively choose hate-mongering don’t ever get a pass.

You have given the great honour … to hundreds of millions of children in the world who are deprived of their childhood and health and education, and fundamental right to freedom. It is a great moment for all those children.

I hope that youngsters and civil society organizations and every Indian will feel proud. It is a noble cause to work for the rights of children.

I dream for a world which is free of child labour, a world in which every child goes to school. A world in which every child gets his rights.

It is time that India legally respected the rights of LGBT persons. It is very sad that this is not enshrined in Indian law in India so far, but I do believe that soon, we will come on par with respecting the individuality of people with different sexualities.

Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another. It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man

The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.

What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

Equality before the law is probably forever unattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

I believe in the rights of every individual and to have the opportunity to help strengthen our members and to give them voice has been a privilege. I really am honored.

As an artist, you’re very sensitive about your art. And you feel like, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Am I making the right music?’

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Viking women were able to rule kingdoms, divorce husbands, own land; and Vikings were very progressive in terms of the rights of women.

This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature.

Women have fought so long and hard for our rights and equality, and now all our attention is put on being a size 0.

We have no right to believe that freedom can be won without struggle.

The only thing I’m addicted to right now is winning.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is

I suppose that’s one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

No, the thing that makes for greatness is determination, persisting in the right direction over the long haul, following your dream, staying at the task.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

Being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.

Somewhere, right at the bottom of one’s own being, one generally does know where one should go and what one should do. But there are times when the clown we call ‘I’ behaves in such a distracting fashion that the inner voice cannot make its presence felt.

The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong

Ultimately, property rights and personal rights are the same thing

The battle for women’s rights has been largely won.

We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what’s right. Freedom is right.

I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right.

God grants that not only the love of liberty, but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that anybody may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say, ‘This is my country!

You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too

Inequality is the source of all evil, but property is the greatest of all rights; so that the rights of property are the most important of all rights

I don’t think marriage is a civil right, but I think that being able to transfer property is a civil right.

If you insist that individual rights are the summum bonum, then the whole structure of society falls down.