“In the state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it.”
Montesquieu
SocietyInequality
Equality Quotes
200 FAMOUS QUOTES · EQUALITY
Equality Quotes
Read 200 of the best equality quotes about equal rights, justice, women's rights and human dignity, from Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Du Bois and more.
“A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another.”
John Locke
Natural RightsEquality
“From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, the place is dignified by the doer's deed.”
William Shakespeare
MeritDignity
“The selfsame sun that shines upon his court hides not his visage from our cottage but looks on alike.”
William Shakespeare
Rich And PoorEquality
“Plate sin with gold, and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.”
William Shakespeare
Unequal JusticeWealth
“I think the king is but a man, as I am: the violet smells to him as it doth to me.”
William Shakespeare
Shared HumanityLeaders
“Whoever degrades another degrades me.”
Walt Whitman
DignitySolidarity
“The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.”
Mark Twain
BrotherhoodHumanity
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Emma Lazarus
ImmigrantsWelcome
“Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
Emma Lazarus
FreedomSolidarity
“From woman, man is born; so why call her bad? From her, kings are born.”
Guru Nanak
Women's DignityRespect
“All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.”
Buddha (Dhammapada)
Shared HumanityCompassion
“All within the four seas will be his brothers.”
Confucius
BrotherhoodUnity
“Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone; its light shines for all.”
Seneca
Access To KnowledgeEquality
“'He is a slave.' His soul, however, may be that of a freeman.”
Seneca
DignityFreedom
“There is no difference in kind between man and man.”
Cicero
Human NatureEquality
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
The Bible (Isaiah 1:17)
JusticeAction
“But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”
The Bible (Amos 5:24)
JusticeRighteousness
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
The Bible (Micah 6:8)
JusticeMercy
“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
The Bible (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Speaking UpAdvocacy
“Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The Bible (Exodus 23:9)
ImmigrantsEmpathy
“He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
The Bible (Luke 4:18)
LiberationCompassion
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
The Bible (Matthew 25:40)
KindnessDignity
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
The Bible (Genesis 1:27)
Human DignityGender Equality
“Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
The Bible (Colossians 3:11)
UnityFaith