The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Abraham Lincoln1 quote
There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. — Abraham Lincoln · 1858Alexander Hamilton1 quote
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. — Alexander Hamilton · 1775David Hartley (the Younger)1 quote
The slave trade is contrary to the laws of God and to the rights of men. — David Hartley (the Younger) · 1776Denis Diderot1 quote
There are two sorts of laws, those of absolute equity and universality, and the bizarre ones which owe their autonomy only to blindness or to the force of circumstance. The latter merely cover the man who is breaking them with a passing disgrace, which time then transfers to the judges and the nations, on whom it remains forever. — Denis Diderot · 1805Edmund Burke1 quote
There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, — the Law of Nature and of Nations. — Edmund Burke · 1794George Mason1 quote
That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. — George Mason · 1776Immanuel Kant1 quote
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more seriously reflection concentrates upon them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me. — Immanuel Kant · 1788Jeremy Bentham1 quote
Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense,—nonsense upon stilts. — Jeremy Bentham · 1832John F. Kennedy1 quote
And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. — John F. Kennedy · 1961John Locke1 quote
Man...has by nature a power...to preserve his property—that is, his life, liberty, and estate—against the injuries and attempts of other men. — John Locke · 1690Joseph Priestley1 quote
Every man, when he comes to be sensible of his natural rights, and to feel his own importance, will consider himself as fully equal to any other person whatever. — Joseph Priestley · 1768Jules Verne1 quote
We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones. — Jules Verne · 1870Learned Hand1 quote
Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution. — Learned Hand · 1945Stendhal1 quote
There is no such thing as "natural law": this expression is nothing but old nonsense…Prior to laws, what is natural is only the strength of the lion, or the need of the creature suffering from hunger or cold, in short, need. — Stendhal · 1819Thomas Jefferson1 quote
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. — Thomas Jefferson · 1774William Henry Harrison1 quote
We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has made no distinction amongst men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed. — William Henry Harrison · 1841William Lloyd Garrison1 quote
Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion. — William Lloyd Garrison · 1853