Quotes about right
page 85

Woodrow Wilson photo

“There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.”

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)

“Citizens of Foreign Birth]”, (10 May 1915)
1910s

Ambrose Bierce photo
Daisy Ashford photo
Thom Yorke photo
Gulzarilal Nanda photo
W.E.B. Du Bois photo
Ilana Mercer photo

“Anti-discrimination law is inconsistent with freedom of association and the right of private property.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“The right to discriminate is the essence of liberty,” https://jungefreiheit.de/kolumne/2015/das-recht-auf-diskriminierung-ist-die-essenz-der-freiheit/ Junge Freiheit, April 9, 2015.
2010s, 2015

Khaled Hosseini photo
Aron Ra photo
Cat Stevens photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, but the United States does. We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. […] The internet can help bridge divides between people of different faiths. As the President said in Cairo, freedom of religion is central to the ability of people to live together. And as we look for ways to expand dialogue, the internet holds out such tremendous promise. […] We are also supporting the development of new tools that enable citizens to exercise their rights of free expression by circumventing politically motivated censorship. We are providing funds to groups around the world to make sure that those tools get to the people who need them in local languages, and with the training they need to access the internet safely. The United States has been assisting in these efforts for some time, with a focus on implementing these programs as efficiently and effectively as possible. Both the American people and nations that censor the internet should understand that our government is committed to helping promote internet freedom. We want to put these tools in the hands of people who will use them to advance democracy and human rights, to fight climate change and epidemics, to build global support for President Obama's goal of a world without nuclear weapons, to encourage sustainable economic development that lifts the people at the bottom up.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

"Remarks on Internet Freedom", The Newseum, Washington, DC, January 21, 2010 http://web.archive.org/web/20100123145341/http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135519.htm
Secretary of State (2009–2013)

George Chapman photo

“Virtue is not malicious; wrong done her
Is righted even when men grant they err.”

Monsieur D'Olive, Act I, scene i; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

William Hague photo
Hillary Clinton photo
Milton Friedman photo

“I have no right to coerce someone else, because I cannot be sure that I'm right and he is wrong.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

"Say 'No' to Intolerance", Liberty magazine, vol. 4, no. 6, (July 1991) pp. 17-20.

Newton Lee photo

“Dictatorship of the majority over the minority would be an encroachment on the rights of the individual and their prerogative to personal freedom.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness (2nd Edition), 2014

Wilfred Thesiger photo
Alfred de Zayas photo
Bob Seger photo
Stella Vine photo

“On Christmas Day I'll head off for a couple of laps around the Serpentine, or a trek around the whole of Hyde Park. Or I'll walk right across town, with Curtis, my son Jamie's bull mastiff”

Stella Vine (1969) English artist

"My Christmas" http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/08/christmas-saving-money-celebrities, The Guardian, (2008-12-08).
On how she spends Christmas Day.

Harry Turtledove photo

“A fellow with a great voice shouted, "Hearken now to the words of the President of the Confederate States of America, the honorable Woodrow Wilson." The president turned this way and that, surveying the great swarm of people all around him in the moment of silence the volley had brought. Then, swinging back to face the statue of George Washington- and, incidentally, Reginald Bartlett- he said, "The father of our country warned us against entangling alliances, a warning that served us well when we were yoked to the North, before its arrogance created in our Confederacy what had never existed before- a national consciousness. That was our salvation and our birth as a free and independent country." Silence broke then, with a thunderous outpouring of applause. Wilson raised a bony right hand. Slowly, silence, of a semblance of it, returned. The president went on, "But our birth of national consciousness made the United States jealous, and they tried to beat us down. We found loyal friends in England and France. Can we now stand aside when the German tyrant threatens to grind them under his iron heel?" "No!" Bartlett shouted himself hoarse, along with thousands of his countrymen. Stunned, deafened, he had trouble hearing what Wilson said next: "Jealous still, the United States in their turn also developed a national consciousness, a dark and bitter one, as any so opposed to ours must be." He spoke not like a politician inflaming a crowd but like a professor setting out arguments- he had taken one path before choosing the other. "The German spirit of arrogance and militarism has taken hold in the United States; they see only the gun as the proper arbiter between nations, and their president takes Wilhelm as his model. He struts and swaggers and acts the fool in all regards."”

Now he sounded like a politician; he despised Theodore Roosevelt, and took pleasure in Roosevelt's dislike for him.
Source: The Great War: American Front (1998), p. 32

Arthur Schopenhauer photo
Sidney Lee photo

“Discriminating brevity is a law of the right biographic method.”

Sidney Lee (1859–1926) English biographer and critic

"Principles of Biography", 1911

Susan B. Anthony photo

“I have many things to say. My every right, constitutional, civil, political and judicial has been tramped upon. I have not only had no jury of my peers, but I have had no jury at all.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

Account of Matilda Joslyn Gage (20 June 1873) to Kansas Leavenworth Times (3 July 1873)
Trial on the charge of illegal voting (1874)

Mary Parker Follett photo

“We tend to think of [Hitler] as an idiot because the central tenet of his ideology was idiotic – and idiotic, of course, it transparently is. Anti-Semitism is a world view through a pinhole: as scientists say about a bad theory, it is not even wrong. Nietzsche tried to tell Wagner that it was beneath contempt. Sartre was right for once when he said that through anti-Semitism any halfwit could become a member of an elite. But, as the case of Wagner proves, a man can have this poisonous bee in his bonnet and still be a creative genius. Hitler was a destructive genius, whose evil gifts not only beggar description but invite denial, because we find it more comfortable to believe that their consequences were produced by historical forces than to believe that he was a historical force. Or perhaps we just lack the vocabulary. Not many of us, in a secular age, are willing to concede that, in the form of Hitler, Satan visited the Earth, recruited an army of sinners, and fought and won a battle against God. We would rather talk the language of pseudoscience, which at least seems to bring such events to order. But all such language can do is shift the focus of attention down to the broad mass of the German people, which is what Goldhagen has done, in a way that, at least in part, lets Hitler off the hook – and unintentionally reinforces his central belief that it was the destiny of the Jewish race to be expelled from the Volk as an inimical presence.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Ibid.
Essays and reviews, As Of This Writing (2003)

Simon Munnery photo
Hans Frank photo

“I tried to commit suicide because I sacrificed everything for Hitler. And that man whom we sacrificed everything for left us all alone. If he had committed suicide four years before, it would have been all right.”

Hans Frank (1900–1946) German war criminal

To Leon Goldensohn, February 12, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

Chris Rock photo

“Do you know what the good side of crack is? If you're up at the right hour, you can get a VCR for $1.50. You can furnish your whole house for $10.95.”

Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director

Bring the Pain (HBO, 1996)

Leo Igwe photo
Jodi Benson photo
Richard Rodríguez photo

“No Chavez speech I have read or heard approaches the rhetorical brilliance of the Protestant ministers of the black civil rights”

Richard Rodríguez (1944) American journalist and essayist

Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography (2013)

Lee Child photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.
We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda — fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, I've Been to the Mountaintop (1968)

David Graeber photo
Enver Hoxha photo
Revilo P. Oliver photo
Rachel Carson photo
Alan García photo
Francis Hutcheson (philosopher) photo
Bernie Sanders photo

“Anybody help me out here, because I don't remember the figures, but my recollection is over 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza. Does that sound right? I don't have it in my number… but I think it's over 10,000. My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing that Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

As quoted in "Massively inflating toll, Sanders suggests Israel killed ‘over 10,000 innocents’ in Gaza" http://www.timesofisrael.com/massively-inflating-death-toll-sanders-says-israel-killed-over-10000-innocents-in-gaza/ by Eric Cortellessa, The Times of Israel (5 April 2016)
"Sanders' estimate far exceeds even Palestinian sources, which estimate that 1,462 Palestinians were killed out of the 2,251 Gaza War fatalities in 2014. Israeli figures are lower." Ariel Cohen, "Sanders: Israel 'indiscriminately' killed '10,000' Palestinians" http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sanders-israel-indiscriminately-killed-10000-palestinians/article/2587752 Washington Examiner (5 April 2016)
2010s, 2016

“... if scientists could get rid of the mental block which prevents them investigating a vast subject right under their noses, they could soon learn a great deal more than my wife and I are capable of doing.”

Thomas Charles Lethbridge (1901–1971) British explorer and archaeologist

The Legend of the Sons of God (1972) as quoted by William Shepherd, "The World of T.C.Lethbridge" (July, 2009)

Archibald Cox photo
Gavin Free photo

“Monty, I'm not attracted to dudes. But if I had a boner for you, it's really trying right now.”

Gavin Free (1988) English filmmaker

"Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures - Bets & Flirts" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhKJAgctR8. youtube.com. October 24, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2014.

Tom Regan photo
African Spir photo

“Killing, imprisoning or denying the rights of a human being is not injustice against one person; it enchains and kills a whole society.”

Narges Mohammadi (1972) Iranian human rights activist

Similar to Quran 5:32, as quoted in 1,000 Days in Prison: Narges Mohammadi Condemns Iranian Judiciary’s “Subservience” to Security Agencies https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2018/02/1000-days-in-prison-narges-mohammadi-condemns-iranian-judiciarys-subservience-to-security-agencies/ (February 21, 2018), Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Nouri al-Maliki photo

“Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him.”

Nouri al-Maliki (1950) Prime Minister of Iraq

As quoted in "Saddam Hanged" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2523732,00.html, by The Times Online.

José Martí photo

“Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.”

José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)

Harry Hopkins photo
Henry Hill photo

“Do you know something? I don't give a heck what those people think, I'm doing the right thing now.”

Henry Hill (1943–2012) Mobster

Mafia king on the straight and narrow, Heather Alexander, 2008-03-29, 2008-03-31, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7319520.stm,

Andrei Grechko photo

“We do not have the right to forget that reactionary imperialism exists and its forces actively operate in the world, that they encourage the arms race and that they try to restore the spirit of the Cold War.”

Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) Soviet military commander

Quoted in "The Role of Nuclear Forces in Current Soviet Strategy" - Page 53 - by Leon Gouré, Foy D. Kohler, Mose L. Harvey - 1974

Robert E. Lee photo
Billy Wilder photo

“Eighty percent of a picture is writing, the other twenty percent is the execution, such as having the camera on the right spot and being able to afford to have good actors in all parts.”

Billy Wilder (1906–2002) American filmmaker

As quoted in The New Hollywood : American Movies in the '70s (1975) by Axel Madsen

Craig Ferguson photo

“[After the doorbell rings, right before Secretariat appears] Who's that at the door?!”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

citation needed
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005–2014), Commonly repeated

African Spir photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Like the government, corporations must be bound with the chains of the Constitution, and especially of the Bill of Rights.”

L. Neil Smith (1946) American writer

"How Many Americans Does It Take to Change a Dim Bulb?"

Prem Rawat photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“We think in America that it is necessary to introduce the people into every department of government as far as they are capable of exercising it; and that this is the only way to ensure a long-continued and honest administration of it's powers. 1. They are not qualified to exercise themselves the EXECUTIVE department: but they are qualified to name the person who shall exercise it. With us therefore they chuse this officer every 4. years. 2. They are not qualified to LEGISLATE. With us therefore they only chuse the legislators. 3. They are not qualified to JUDGE questions of law; but they are very capable of judging questions of fact. In the form of JURIES therefore they determine all matters of fact, leaving to the permanent judges to decide the law resulting from those facts. Butwe all know that permanent judges acquire an esprit de corps; that, being known, they are liable to be tempted by bribery; that they are misled by favor, by relationship, by a spirit of party, by a devotion to the executive or legislative; that it is better to leave a cause to the decision of cross and pile than to that of a judge biased to one side; and that the opinion of twelve honest jurymen gives still a better hope of right than cross and pile does. It is left therefore, to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law as well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect partiality in the judges; and by the exercise of this power they have been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to the Abbé Arnoux (19 July 1787) https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-15-02-0275
1780s

Conor Oberst photo
Bernie Sanders photo
Henry Moore photo
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) photo
Kate Bornstein photo

“If we don't show ourselves the same amount of compassion we show others, we'll eventually come to resent the compassion we have for others. I think there's little enough compassion in the world right now, so we need to grow our own to compensate for that.”

Kate Bornstein (1948) American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist

My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity (2013), p. 6

Shankar Dayal Sharma photo

“I am here to defend the right of a member to express his views.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

When his ruling was protested by a member of the Parliament in the Raja Sabha and when he even threatened that he would resign from the post of Chairman, Rajya Sabha and Vice President of India, which eventually ended when the Congress party apologized to him on the floor of the house.
Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, P.202.

Tony Benn photo

“People say that if we work for the Single European Act, women will get their rights, the water will be purer, and training will be better. That is rubbish. It is part of the attempt to consolidate the EEC.”

Tony Benn (1925–2014) British Labour Party politician

Speech to the House of Commons (23 February 1989) http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1989/feb/23/european-community
1980s

Flavor Flav photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo
William Shenstone photo

“Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,
Emblem right meet of decency does yield.”

William Shenstone (1714–1763) English gardener

Stanza 6
The Schoolmistress (1737-48)

Adi Da Samraj photo
Mark Satin photo
Henry Adams photo
James A. Garfield photo
Edward Jenks photo
Joel Spolsky photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“What’s happening to families at the border right now is a humanitarian crisis. Every parent who has ever held a child in their arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

18 June 2018 Tweet https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1008806858176585730 affirmed by Vox article https://www.vox.com/2018/6/18/17476268/hillary-clinton-family-separation-border-immigration
Post Presidential Election, Separation of illegally immigrating adults and children (2018)

John Marshall Harlan II photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation, none.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven (12 July 1801). Often misquoted as, "few die and none resign".
1800s, First Presidential Administration (1801–1805)

Iain Banks photo
Immortal Technique photo

“What Good is a good education with no direction like the right to vote with no one to vote for in an election”

Immortal Technique (1978) American rapper and activist

That's what It Is
Albums, The 3rd World (2008)

John Ireland (bishop) photo
Megan Mullally photo
William O. Douglas photo
Archilochus photo
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Brock Chisholm photo
Rob Pike photo
Rex Ryan photo

“You guys know me, that I'm about as positive a guy as there is. I believe our team is better than every [expletive] team in the league. I believe our players are better than any players in the league, right? Those are true statements. That's how I believe.”

Rex Ryan (1962) American football coach

[Rex Ryan implores Jets to show leadership, http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/17315/rex-ryan-implores-jets-to-show-leadership, ESPN, Graham, Tim, September 1, 2010, http://www.webcitation.org/5x45wBbAP, March 9, 2011, March 9, 2011]

Salmon P. Chase photo

“True democracy makes no enquiry about the color of skin, or the place of nativity, whereever it sees man, it recognizes a being endowed by his Creator with original inalienable rights.”

Salmon P. Chase (1808–1873) Chief Justice of the United States

Address accepting a testimonial of gratitude from the colored people of Cincinnati for the advocacy in the case of Samuel Watson (February 12, 1845).

George Saintsbury photo

“Majorities are generally wrong, if only in their reasons for being right.”

George Saintsbury (1845–1933) British literary critic

Source: A Last Vintage, p. 172.