We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate.

—Lydia Maria Child

justice power rights dominance

About Lydia Maria Child

Portrait of Lydia Maria Child

Lydia Maria Child (née Francis; February 11, 1802 – October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, feminist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and domestic manuals, reached wide audiences from the 1820s through the 1850s. At times she shocked her audience...

More quotations tagged with “rights”

America is not a mere body of traders; it is a body of free men. Our greatness-built upon freedom-is moral, not material. we have a great ardor for gain; but we have a deep passion for the rights of man.

—Woodrow Wilson

freedom freedom rights greatness passion America

Human beings have capitalized on the silence of animals, just as certain human beings have historically imposed silence on certain other human beings by denying slaves the right to literacy, denying women the right to own property, and denying both the right to vote.

—Gary Steiner

humanity silence rights slavery

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

—G. K. Chesterton

privilege rights doing right

No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right.

—Helen Keller in Optimism

happiness rights

History

8 Jun 2014 Added