Natural Rights Quotes

• We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.

  Voltaire

  Risk, Freedom Of Speech, Hazards

  Francois Voltaire (1977). “The Portable Voltaire”, p.103, Penguin

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• Questions of natural right are triable by their conformity with the moral sense and reason of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Inalienable Rights, Moral

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.618

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• 

  Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.

  Samuel Adams

  Rights, Liberty, Together

  Samuel Adams (1946). “Samuel Adams: selections from his writings”

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• All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

  John Locke

  Peace, War, Independent

  John Locke (1821). “Two treatises of government”, p.191

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• Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Natural, Authority

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• Natural rights are those which always appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the rights of others.

  Thomas Paine

  Men, Rights, Mind

  Thomas Paine (1830). “The Political Writings of Thomas Paine ...: Prospects on the Rubicon. Rights of man, part I. Rights of man, part II. Letter to the authors of the Republican. Letter to the Abbe Sieyes. Address to the addressers. Letters to Lord Onslow. Dissertation on the first principles of government. Speech delivered in the French National convention. Letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas. The decline and fall of the English system of finance. Letter to the people of France. Reasons for preserving the life of Louis”, p.73

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• The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Time, Godly

  Thomas Jefferson (1774). “A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)”, p.31, Academic Resources Corp

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• If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

  James Madison

  Adversity, Angel, Men

  The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

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• Upon this law, depend the natural rights of mankind, the supreme being gave existence to man, together with the means of preserving and beatifying that existence. He endowed him with rational faculties, by the help of which, to discern and pursue such things, as were consistent with his duty and interest, and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty, and personal safety.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Mean, Men, Rights

  Alexander Hamilton (1842). “The Official and Other Papers of the Late Major-General Alexander Hamilton: Comp. Chiefly from the Originals in the Possession of Mrs. Hamilton ...”, p.76

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• Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights.

  Marquis de Lafayette

  Exercise, Men, Rights

  Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789.

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• The very idea of law originates in men's natural rights. There is no other standard, than natural rights, by which civil law can be measured. Law has always been the name of that rule or principle of justice, which protects those rights. Thus we speak of natural law.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Rights, Law

  Lysander Spooner (1845). “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery”, p.7

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• Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Law, Protection

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Change, Happiness

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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• A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.

  Lysander Spooner

  Character, Men, Rights

  Lysander Spooner (1867). “No Treason: No. 1-”, p.7

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• Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Patriotic, Men, Rights

  Calvin Coolidge (2001). “The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century”, Images from the Past Incorporated

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• Our legislators are not sufficiently apprized of the rightful limits of their power; that their true office is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them from us.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Office, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.3

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• The idea is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Giving Up, Rights, Ideas

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.143, Cambridge University Press

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• All... natural rights may be abridged or modified in [their] exercise by law.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Rights, Law

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• In short, it is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property.

  Samuel Adams

  Mean, Men, Rights

  John White, Cecil Calvert Baltimore (2d Baron), Charles Hudson, Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson, Massachusetts Historical Society (1904). “The planting of colonies in New England”

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• I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Rights, Progress

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

  James Madison

  Nature, Patriotic, Angel

  1788 The Federalist, Jan.

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• Man's rights are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.

  Samuel Adams

  Men, Rights, Self

  Samuel Adams (1946). “Samuel Adams: selections from his writings”

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• What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

  James Madison

  Reflection, Government, Human Nature

  1788 The Federalist, Jan.

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Inspiring, Women, 4th Of July

  Declaration of Sentiments, First Woman's Rights

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• A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

  Thomas Jefferson

  4th Of July, Rights, Law

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States”, p.118

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