The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen) is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself.
Read more about Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And Of The Citizen: History, Philosophic and Theoretical Context, Substance, Legacy, Other Early Declarations of Rights
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“The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (Sept. 1791)
“Every declaration of love contains an unstated list of exceptions and demands.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“[The Declaration of Independence] meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“For man is not the creature and product of Mechanism; but, in a far truer sense, its creator and producer.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“To be a born American citizen seems a guarantee against pauperism; and this, perhaps, springs from the virtue of a vote.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)