Quotes about Individual Rights

Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law. Votes: 4

I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights. Votes: 4

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Votes: 4

The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it. Votes: 4

The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence. Votes: 4

Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. Votes: 4

Any successful nominee should possess both the temperament to interpret the law and the wisdom to do so fairly. The next Supreme Court Justice should have a record of protecting individual rights and a strong willingness to put aside any political agenda. Votes: 4

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual). Votes: 4

But what I believe is that if a person's individual rights or right to be a part of our economic system is violated under statute, we aggressively go after it. But we don't issue mandates to businesses that you've got to do this and you've got to do that. Votes: 4

To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. Votes: 3

If succeeding generations of Americans don't understand the concepts of justice, individual rights, free enterprise, capitalism, sovereignty or national security, there can be no guarantee that those concepts - or others like them - will continue. Votes: 3

America's founding Ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more - and nothing less. Votes: 2

If you insist that individual rights are the summum bonum, then the whole structure of society falls down. Votes: 2

I believe in individual rights so much that I don't like any sort of 'what's good for the cause'-type questions. Votes: 2

Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid. Votes: 2

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority. Votes: 2

The political Right likes to champion individual rights and individual liberty, but it has also worked to enforce morality in relation to abortion, gambling, and homosexuality. Votes: 2

Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. Votes: 2

Legally speaking, there are no such things as 'public rights,' as distinguished from individual rights. Legally speaking, there is no such creature or thing as 'the public.' Votes: 2

We talk a lot about individual rights, but in fact Americans are very willing to give up our individual rights if it means our property values will be protected, and so on. Votes: 2

The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense! Votes: 2

It's a hard thing to legislate. You can't legislate good taste and you can't put a number on it in terms of square footage. It's a question of where individual rights end and community rights begin. Votes: 2

The platform we had in Dallas, the 1984 Republican platform, all the ideas we supported there - from tax policy, to foreign policy; from individual rights, to neighborhood security - are things that Jefferson Davis and his people believed in. Votes: 2

Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers. Votes: 2

My office has been one of the most scrupulous in the country with regard to the protection of individual rights. I've been on record for years in law journals and books as championing the rights of the individual against the oppressive power of the state. Votes: 2

Individual rights always go along with the interests of the society. I want to add that in Vietnam we have no political prisoners. No one is arrested or jailed for his or her speech or point of view. They are put in jail because they violated the law. Votes: 2

Angela Davis's legacy as a freedom fighter made her an enemy of the state under the increasingly neoliberal regimes of Nixon, Reagan and J. Edgar Hoover because she understood that the struggle for freedom was not only a struggle for political and individual rights but also for economic rights. Votes: 2

Legally speaking, the term 'public rights' is as vague and indefinite as are the terms 'public health,' 'public good,' 'public welfare,' and the like. It has no legal meaning, except when used to describe the separate, private, individual rights of a greater or less number of individuals. Votes: 2

Say what you will about Americans, but one thing they are not is passive. The Bush administration may have pushed through the Patriot Act weeks after 11 September, but, as the American public got to grips with how the law was affecting their individual rights, their protests grew loud and angry. Votes: 2

There's something unique about the United States, a sense of individual rights and freedoms, and a sense of social and civic responsibility that we contributed to so much of the world. We lost that mission in the 1980s and 1990s, when we entered a gilded age, and the culture of individualism became a culture of avarice. Votes: 2

My main quarrel with liberalism is not that liberalism places great emphasis on individual rights - I believe rights are very important and need to be respected. The issue is whether it is possible to define and justify our rights without taking a stand on the moral and even sometimes religious convictions that citizens bring to public life. Votes: 2

If instituted, the TPP's IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you're ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs. Votes: 2

By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments... The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments-that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity. Votes: 2

Human rights means that each individual should be treated with respect, dignity and equality. Votes: 1

The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual... Votes: 1

To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people, each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. Votes: 1

Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting. Votes: 1

The essential characteristic of socialism is the denial of individual property rights... Votes: 0

Principle III:;: Presumptive rights are the conditions under which individual powers normally develop. Votes: 0

The rights of the individual should be the primary object of all governments. Votes: 0

Federalism isn't about states' rights. It's about dividing power to better protect individual liberty. Votes: 0

One of the greatest perils to an extensive republic is the disregard of individual rights. Votes: 0

In going too far, they [presidents] have taken away the individual rights of American citizens. Votes: 0

A man's rights are not violated by a private individual's refusal to deal with him. Votes: 0

When the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes. Votes: 0

Government should work to insure the rights of the individual, not plot to take them away. Votes: 0

I still totally believe in individual rights and individual responsibility and in choosing to do good. Votes: 0

Human rights and individual liberties, including religious freedom, will be at the heart of the new Iraq. Votes: 0

The West has given us the liberal miracle of individual rights, individual responsibility, merit, and human satisfaction. Votes: 0

Our economic freedom is founded on individual property rights; government should never be permitted to take those away. Votes: 0

We get our rights from our Creator as individuals. So every individual should be treated the same way. Votes: 0

Our funding is based on our support of ideas like limited government, individual rights and a strong defense. Votes: 0

Justice for the major perpetrators cannot be separated from the vindication of the rights of the individual victim. Votes: 0

The public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individual's private rights. Votes: 0

I'm concerned about the role the court will play in protecting individual rights in this and the next century. Votes: 0

The emblem of equal rights. It means free hands, free lips, self- government, and the sovereignty of the individual. Votes: 0

The erosion of a nation's concern for life and for individual rights, has always preceded the intrusion of tyranny. Votes: 0

Laws are the very bulkwarks of liberty; they define every man's rights, and defend the individual liberties of all men. Votes: 0

The idea of legally establishing inalienable, inherent and sacred rights of the individual is not of political but religious origin. Votes: 0

I will never surrender the rights of the individual - the complete rights of the individual - to any "ism" whatever. Votes: 0

Capitalism is based on individual rights - not on the sacrifice of the individual to the 'public good' of the collective. Votes: 0

We must always embrace individual liberty and enforce the constitutional rights of all Americans-rich and poor, immigrant and native, black and white. Votes: 0

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others. Votes: 0

The equal rights of man and the happiness of every individual are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government. Votes: 0

The fight against drug trafficking is a wildfire that threatens to consume those fundamental rights of the individual deliberately enshrined in our Constitution. Votes: 0

It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions. Votes: 0

Liberty, whether natural, civil, or political, is the lawful power in the individual to exercise his corresponding rights. It is greatly favored in law. Votes: 0

Freedom, liberty, individual rights, that idea of dealing with other people in a matter that is not initiating force against them, is critical to me. Votes: 0

Laissez-faire capitalism is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships. Votes: 0

America is great not because it's a team. America is great because it is a nation whose founding documents elevated the rights of the individual. Votes: 0

The ideal of perfect Success is an ideal belonging to the same sort of individual as the inventor of Equal Rights of man and Perfectibility. Votes: 0

Individual and national rights to wealth rest on the basis of civil and international law, or at least of custom that has the force of law. Votes: 0

They're the problems of poverty, of the rights of the individual, of the changes brought about by technology. They're the ones that count, more than religion! Votes: 0

We need to insist on fathers and mothers sharing the care of their offspring as well as the opportunity to enjoy the fulfillment of individual rights. Votes: 0

One of the eternal truths is that happiness is created and developed in peace, and one of the eternal rights is the individual's right to live. Votes: 0

The rights of the individual are greatly prized in the developed world, but in many other regions they are considered a luxury reserved for the impossibly wealthy. Votes: 0

I grew up in a family that despised not only communism but collectivism, socialism, and any 'ism' that deprived the individual of his or her natural rights. Votes: 0

Any group or "collective", large or small, is only a number of individuals. A group can have no rights other than the rights of its individual members. Votes: 0

It is not that you set the individual apart from society but that you recognize in any society that the individual must have rights that are guarded. Votes: 0

Our mandate is to be a nation of laws. And the Supreme Court is the place where we look to safeguard our civil rights and our individual liberties. Votes: 0

We don't need a weakened government but a strong government that would take responsibility for the rights of the individual and care for the society as a whole. Votes: 0

The very inclusion of the right to keep and bear arms in the Bill of Rights shows that the framers of the Constitution considered it an individual right. Votes: 0

I do not support individual countries taking military action against another country because of its human rights record, or subsequently justifying taking such action on human rights grounds. Votes: 0

Rights are a protection from society. But only by fulfilling their obligations to society can the individual give meaning to that protection. (V - From Ideology Towards Equilibrium) Votes: 0

It should go without saying that even the most narrowly construed eminent-domain power would violate individual rights. Either a person owns his legitimately acquired property or he does not. Votes: 0

I think it is very important for any U.S. administration to be clear that America stands on the side of freedom and democracy and respect for individual rights. Votes: 0

In a democracy, society must recognize that the individual has rights which are guaranteed, and the individual must recognize that he has responsibilities which are not to be evaded. Votes: 0

If the entire society was conscious of its duties, nobody would need to fight for their individual rights. Since everybodys's rights would be automatically taken care of through someone else's duties. Votes: 0

The duties are even more important than the rights; and in the long run I think that the reward is ampler and greater for duty well done, than for the insistence upon individual rights. Votes: 0

We talk about democracy as if it's a safeguard for individual rights... Instead, it's become our way of intruding on rights, allegedly in the name of that most collectivist of concepts: The Common Good. Votes: 0

I think liberals have to come to terms with the market and embrace market mechanisms as the only way to run a society that produces widespread material well-being and respects individual rights and liberties. Votes: 0

The government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution. The Constitution just sets minimums. Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires. Votes: 0

The more you look back into English history, the more you are forced to the conclusion that alongside civility and the deeply held convictions about individual rights, the English have a natural taste for disorder. Votes: 0

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing. Votes: -1

Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. Votes: -1