Mary Robinson Quotes

#1. and then i got too old to be a prostitute. i wasn't going to do it anyways, but it was there. it was my z plan.

Mary Robinson

#2. The fifth province is not anywhere here or there, north or south, east or west. It is a place within each of us. It is that place that is open to the other, that swinging door which allows us to venture out and others to venture in.

Mary Robinson

#3. The fossil-fuel-based development model has not benefitted all people and those who have benefitted least are now suffering great harm in the face of climate change.

Mary Robinson

#4. It is necessary to ensure that the requirement to combat terrorism is not used to clamp down on freedom of expression, legitimate dissent, freedom of association and so on.

Mary Robinson

#5. We now know that climate change is a driver of migration, and is expected to increase the displacement of populations.

Mary Robinson

#6. We will not let governments off the hook. We will look to civil society to help us, to pin governments, to what they have committed to here. And we will report on it.

Mary Robinson

#7. The aim of human rights, if I may borrow a term from engineering, is to move beyond the design and drawing-board phase, to move beyond thinking and talking about the foundations stones - to laying those foundation stones, inch by inch, together.

Mary Robinson

#8. Symbols give us our identity, our self image, our way of explaining ourselves to ourselves and to others. Symbols in turn determine the kinds of stories we tell, and the stories we tell determine the kind of history we make and remake.

Mary Robinson

#9. Climate change is the greatest threat to human rights in the 21st century.

Mary Robinson

#10. The Snow-drop, Winter's timid child,
Awakes to life, bedew'd with tears.

Mary Robinson

#11. The changing climate is a threat to human rights.

Mary Robinson

#12. The MDGs have been useful in moving human rights and development discourse together and in highlighting the need for greater accountability at all levels.

Mary Robinson

#13. I was elected by the women of Ireland, who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system.

Mary Robinson

#14. In a society where the rights and potential of women are constrained, no man can be truly free. He may have power, but he will not have freedom.

Mary Robinson

#15. There's a worldwide linking of environmental activists, developmental experts and human rights advocates. And they're using the two frameworks, in particular environmental standards and human rights.

Mary Robinson

#16. Human rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation.

Mary Robinson

#17. Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow's conflicts.

Mary Robinson

#18. If we took away barriers to women's leadership, we would solve the climate change problem a lot faster

Mary Robinson

#19. A culture is not an abstract thing. It is a living, evolving process. The aim is to push beyond standard-setting and asserting human rights to make those standards a living reality for people everywhere.

Mary Robinson