Richard Epstein Quotes

You don't have a right to a house, you don't have a right to a job, you don't have a right to medical care.

But we must create in each person a sense of responsibility in order that each one of us can have the right to enjoy all his rights.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

There is no entitlement without a duty.

Duties and rights are reciprocal

Rights! There are no rights whatever without corresponding duties.

Favors granted always become defined as rights.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

... equal responsibilities are less popular than equal rights.

When we're talking about medical care we're talking about our sense of values. Do we think human life is important? Do we think that the best medical care which is available is something to which people are entitled, by virtue of belonging to a civilized community?

No man can rely upon any permanent security for his own rights unless he respects the rights of his neighbors.

We shouldn't have to give up all our rights, just because we are receiving a Government benefit.

As Justice gives every Man a Title to the product of his honest industry, and the fair Acquisitions of his Ancestors descended to him; so Charity gives every Man a Title to so much out of another’s plenty, as will keep him from extreme want, where he has no means to subsist otherwise.

Right therefore and obligation are, as logicians express it, correllative terms; one of these ideas necessarily supposes the other; and we cannot conceive a right without a corresponding obligation.

The Church emphasis responsibility more than rights.

Logic cannot support the premise that health care is a right. Health care is a service that is administered by another human being with the requisite skills and knowledge. To claim that healthcare as a "right" is to claim a right to the services of the health-care provider. In effect, this means you are claiming a "right" to a portion of that person's life – both a portion of the time already spent developing his skills, and a portion of the time spent practicing those skills on you.

The United States of America is the only country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of its people as a right.

Rule of law is the most important element in any civil society. To build a successful country, we need to have rule of law. And rule of law is not just about writing a beautiful constitution or set of laws. It is also about the independence of the judiciary. It’s about institutions. It’s about respect for rights, human rights, social, economic rights, etc.

We're losing our way as a society. If we don't stand up, if we don't say what we think those rights should be, and if we don't protect them, we will very soon find out that we do not have them.

And it is to these rights - the right of law and order, the right of life, the right of liberty, the right of a job, the right of a home in a decent neighborhood, and the right to an education - it is to these rights that I pledge my life and whatever capacity and ability I have.

Violence becomes imperative when an attempt is made to assert rights without any reference to duties.

We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities.

Our privileges can be no greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer than the performance of our responsibilities.