Quotes about civil rights

"The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more."

Bernanos, Georges on civil rights   

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

Bryan, William Jennings on civil rights   

"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves."

Burke, Edmund on civil rights   

"The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes."

Coolidge, Calvin on civil rights   

"Ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments."

French National Assembly on civil rights   

"Civil Rights: What black folks are given in the U.S. on the installment plan, as in civil-rights bills. Not to be confused with human rights, which are the dignity, stature, humanity, respect, and freedom belonging to all people by right of their birth."

Gregory, Dick on civil rights   

"A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit. A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states."

Havel, Vaclav on civil rights   

"There are those who say to you -- we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late."

Humphrey, Hubert H. on civil rights
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"The theory of rights enables us to rise and overthrow obstacles, but not to found a strong and lasting accord between all the elements which compose the nation."

Mazzini, Giuseppe on civil rights   

"To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled -- because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on civil rights