Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [201-220] of 263 Rights quotesRights QuotesRights Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes I will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions.~ John Enoch Powell Make no mistake about it -- and tell it to your Republican friends: capitalism and altruism cannot coexist in the same man or in the same society. Tell it to anyone who attempts to justify capitalism on the ground of the "public good" or the "general welfare" or "service to society" or the benefit it brings to the poor. All these things are true, but they are the by-products, the secondary consequences of capitalism -- not its goal, purpose or moral justification. The moral justification of capitalism is man's right to exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; it is the recognition that man -- every man -- is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others, not a sacrificial animal serving anyone's need.~ Ayn Rand The essential characteristic of socialism is the denial of individual property rights...~ Ayn Rand Collectivism is a doctrine that holds that the individual has no rights, and the ultimate standard of value is the group to which 'he belongs.' Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man’s genetic lineage—the notion that a man’s intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors. Racism claims that the content of a man’s mind (not his cognitive apparatus, but its content) is inherited; that a man’s convictions, values and character are determined before he is born, by physical factors beyond his control. This is the caveman’s version of the doctrine of innate ideas -- or of inherited knowledge -- which has been thoroughly refuted by philosophy and science. Racism is a doctrine of, by and for brutes. It is a barnyard or stock-farm version of collectivism, appropriate to a mentality that differentiates between various breeds of animals, but not between animals and men. Like every form of determinism, racism invalidates the specific attribute which distinguishes man from all other living species: his rational faculty. Racism negates two aspects of man’s life: reason and choice, or mind and morality, replacing them with chemical predestination.~ Ayn Rand Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.~ Ronald Reagan The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.~ Rhode Island Constitution The constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.~ Rhode Island Declaration of Rights Article I, Section I When a legislature decides to steal some of our rights and plans to use police force to accomplish it, what's the real difference between them and the thief? Darn little! They hide behind the excuse that they're legislating democratically. The fact they do it by a majority vote has no moral significance whatsoever. Numerical might does not constitute right, no more than a lynch mob can justify its act because a majority participated.~ H. L. Richardson Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of liberty.~ Henry Martyn Robert I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.~ John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights~ Dr. Benjamin Rush The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.~ William Safire From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.~ Carl Schurz Once again prosperous and successful crime goes by the name of virtue; good men obey the bad, might is right and fear oppresses law.~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca The right to know is like the right to live. It is fundamental and unconditional in its assumption that knowledge, like life, is a desirable thing.~ George Bernard Shaw The only ends for which governments are constituted, and obedience rendered to them, are the obtaining of justice and protection; and they who cannot provide for both give the people a right of taking such ways as best please themselves, in order to their own safety.~ Algernon Sidney In a free society, standards of public morality can be measured only by whether physical coercion -- violence against persons or property -- occurs. There is no right not to be offended by words, actions or symbols.~ Richard E. Sincere, Jr. Whether or not legislation is truly moral is often a question of who has the power to define morality.~ Jerome H. Skolnick In a free society, individuals have the right to do right or wrong, as long as they don’t threaten or infringe upon the rights or property of others.~ Mark Skousen Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print