Top 131 Humanitarian Quotes

At CARE, a leading humanitarian organization, we recognize people live their lives in a holistic manner. Issues such as health care, education and economic empowerment cannot be addressed in a vacuum. Thus, effective programs need to tackle the multiple root causes of poverty.

With a foreign policy appropriately rooted in some sense of humanitarian decency, the Central African crisis will not be easily ignored by American policymakers. It screams for remedy.

There are few forces for good as extensive and important as the United Nations. Being able to work with them and other global aid organisations for World Humanitarian Day is a humbling and extraordinary opportunity.

History is laden with belligerent leaders using humanitarian rhetoric to mask geopolitical aims. History also shows how often ill-informed moralism has led to foreign entanglements that do more harm than good.

The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth. Millions in Africa are poorer today because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended but increased. Aid has been, and continues to be, an unmitigated political, economic, and humanitarian disaster for most parts of the developing world.

I am an actress, I earn money, I am well-known. I don’t think it is altruism to become engaged in humanitarian work. It’s the least one can do.

I could probably say one thing that I’m excited about is I definitely wanna be an entrepreneur and be a humanitarian and that stuff.

I think humanitarian organizations should acknowledge the progress more than they do. I think that one reason people are reluctant to provide more help to Africa, for example, is this sense that it’s just hopeless, in a way that I think is untrue.

The most wonderful study of mankind is man. Relieving human suffering and diffusing universal knowledge is humanitarian.

Before I became a SEAL, I’d done humanitarian work around the world – with refugee families in Bosnia, with unaccompanied children in Rwanda, with kids who lost limbs to land mines in Cambodia.

My mom is Irish. She is a poet and a humanitarian who believed in ensuring that people around her had a better life.

My humanitarian work evolved from being with my family. My mom, my dad, they really set a great example for giving back. My mom was a nurse, my dad was a school teacher. But my mom did a lot of things for geriatrics and elderly people. She would do home visits for free.

Before Angelina Jolie became a humanitarian, she was best known for wearing a vial of blood around her neck and kissing her brother.

I first started doing service, actually, as a kid, doing service projects. Later in college, I started doing international humanitarian work that brought me to places like Bosnia, Rwanda.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution does not just entail risks: it also brings solutions to humanitarian problems.

The knighthood for my humanitarian work meant more than if it had been for my acting.

Wars are getting longer, they are more complex, and the humanitarian need is great.

I won’t mince words: President Donald Trump’s inauguration means it is more important than ever that Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights redouble its commitment to the full scope of our humanitarian and social justice mission.

I want to state clearly that I am a humanitarian, not an activist. I do not follow any agendas – only that of humanity, not only in Saudi Arabia, but all over the world.

From aerial robotics to big data analytics, technology presents the opportunity to expedite and magnify the impact of humanitarian relief efforts through greater efficiency and responsiveness: reaching more people, sooner, more cost-effectively, and saving more lives.

Nuclear countries are those countries that are big and powerful. It is difficult to criticize them and try to lead them onto a humanitarian path. But we can only do what we can and appeal to their sense of reason.

I was proud to witness American Jewish organizations found the Save Darfur Coalition in June 2004 to mobilize a coordinated interfaith response to the ongoing humanitarian disaster.

The American birthright belongs, potentially, to everyone. This is unprecedented. Other countries accept migrants on the basis of economic necessity or as a humanitarian gesture. Only in America is it the direct consequence of our foundational ideals.

A feminist man is a bit like a vegetarian: it’s the humanitarian principle he’s defending, I suppose.

My mother believed strongly that every life matters. She demonstrated on a daily basis, particularly through her humanitarian work as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, her strong belief in the value of every life.

I am convinced that dealing intelligently with the press is of the greatest importance to the success and effectiveness of a humanitarian mission.

All South Sudanese deserve consistent and unimpeded humanitarian assistance, regardless of if they live in areas held by rebel or government forces.

Looking for a job, I was working with the Salvadoran American Foundation, a humanitarian aid group, and from there, I got an offer from the Cuban-American National Foundation.

When you work as a humanitarian, you are conscious that politics have to be considered. Because if you really want to make an extreme change, then you have a responsibility.

I want to be a lawyer, a dancer, an actress, a mother, a wife, a children’s author, a distance runner, a poet, a pianist, a pet store owner, an astronaut, an environmental and humanitarian activist, a psychiatrist, a ballet teacher, and the first woman president.

For centuries, our country has welcomed people fleeing religious persecution, war and humanitarian crises to create a better future for themselves and their futures. With proper safeguards in place, we should offer refuge to some migrants with legitimate fears of persecution and violence.

I love traveling. It not only opens my mind up, but it also allows me to use my fame in another way through humanitarian works and stuff, and being an influence around the world.

I don’t feel that I’m particularly political. I’m interested in politics; I’ll express my view if I feel strongly about something, but humanitarian issues, I think, are slightly different.

Humanitarian issues must bring together all people who act in good faith trying to alleviate the suffering of people in dire need – especially women, children and the elderly.

President Obama should pardon Leonard Peltier, or at least commute his sentence, not just for humanitarian reasons, but also as a way of acknowledging the injustice suffered by Native Americans.

There are many things I do where the centre of it is… It’s almost more my humanitarian work than art.

If private-sector capital can be harnessed for social good, the potential to scale humanitarian solutions is vast.

I think one can easily make a case for taking out Saddam Hussein. In fact, one could probably be made on humanitarian grounds alone. But just as there’s a downside risk to doing nothing about this man, there is a very serious downside risk to invading the country.

U.A.E.’s continuously growing initiatives in the field of charitable and humanitarian works became a basic component of our foreign activities.

Women, men, and children have fundamental rights to humanitarian assistance and protection. Yet far too many states block aid and attack their own citizens, and too many others – including some of the world’s wealthiest countries – turn their back on those fleeing conflict and violence.

We in Europe must not indulge the illusion that we could shut ourselves away from the world if it goes to pieces, and maybe offer a bit of humanitarian aid.

All women and girls have the fundamental right to live free of violence. This right is enshrined in international human rights and humanitarian law. And it lies at the heart of my UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign.

I want to be a paleontologist, whether it’s amateur or professional. And I want to be a humanitarian.

I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state – a new idea, this – even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms.

The U.S. government has rarely, if ever, used the criminal history of a certain immigrant population in determining if the whole community should be allowed to remain in the country under a humanitarian program, like TPS.

My human rights activism has been widely met with encouragement and support. Ahangarani should earn plaudits, not only for her cinematic achievements, but also for her humanitarian deeds and her commitment to increased rights and freedoms for all.

I have long understood that climate change is not only an environmental issue – it is a humanitarian, economic, health, and justice issue as well.

One of the fundamental pillars of international humanitarian law is that proper distinction should be made between military targets and civilians. That is why indiscriminate bombing, let alone the deliberate targeting of residential areas or agricultural infrastructure, is considered a war crime.

I want to keep working, I want to keep doing my humanitarian stuff around the world, shining light on different places that have problems. Keep making movies, make people laugh.

I believe in humanitarian capitalism, and there are good people on Wall Street.

We live in an environment in which connectivity and cyberspace are transforming all workplaces, including the humanitarian workplace.

If they wish to alleviate the sufferings of the exploited classes, let them live up to their pretensions, let them abandon the academy and go out there and work politically and economically and in a humanitarian spirit.

Although we have do not have adequate access to all parts of Darfur we do fortunately have humanitarian personnel, including staff from my own office, in each of the three provincial capitals of Darfur.

Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.

It would be easy to define terrorism as attacks against human rights and international humanitarian law forbids attacks against innocent non-combatants which is often the definition used for terrorism.

A person who has sympathy for mankind in the lump, faith in its future progress, and desire to serve the great cause of this progress, should be called not a humanist, but a humanitarian, and his creed may be designated as humanitarianism.

I’m consistently asked how I keep a foot in two contrasting worlds – one in the entertainment industry, predicated on wealth and indulgence, and the other in humanitarian work. To me, it’s less of a question of how can you do this, and more a question of how can you not?

I’ve made humanitarian causes and my children much more my priority than the Hollywood scene, being liked and getting movie parts.

A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.

There is a humanitarian impulse that one aspires to and there are days when one doesn’t do it very well.

There is a myth that those who do humanitarian work have a saviour mentality, but the relationship is reciprocal.

The fragility created by protracted conflicts, resulting in destroyed cities and dramatically insufficient services, is not something that humanitarian organizations can address comprehensively. Only political solutions can end armed conflicts.

I have always had a great deal of respect and admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a true humanitarian and champion of Women’s Rights and Civil Rights.

If the Obama regime gave a hoot about ‘humanitarian crisis,’ the Obama regime would not have orchestrated humanitarian crisis in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen.

The humanitarian would, of course, have us meddle in foreign affairs as part of his program of world service.

Further, Japan is the second largest donor in Iraq after the United States, with over $5 billion dollars for humanitarian, infrastructure and reconstruction projects.

I’ve got different things going on – part spiritualist, part humanitarian, part brat.

When I was a young boy, during the aftermath of World War II, Germany was broken and in ruins. Many people were hungry, sick, and dying. I remember well the humanitarian shipments of food and clothing that came from the Church in Salt Lake City.

We need to believe that we can achieve progress in fixing our broken immigration system, prioritizing smart border security investments, cracking down on those who are trafficking and smuggling, and relieving the ongoing humanitarian crisis at our southern border.

The humanitarian ecosystem is diverse – not only is there a variety of traditional humanitarian actors, but the system should also embrace an increasing diversity of private sector actors.

Every dollar that we send in State Department aid or humanitarian aid that saves us from having to get involved with very expensive military actions is a good investment. And frankly, helping Israel fight terrorism in the Middle East is much cheaper than us fighting it here on our shores.

Access to humanitarian assistance and information are all the more important during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than my political affiliation, I consider myself a hellraising humanitarian. Hell raising in the sense that I don’t just go along to get along.

Elvis was sincere, and he was – he was so loyal. And he was so homespun. He loved his mother, he loved America. You know, he loved his fellow man. He had a great humanitarian philanthropic sense.

In addition to not stopping the spread of Ebola, isolating countries will make it harder to respond to Ebola, creating an even greater humanitarian and health care emergency. Importantly, isolating countries won’t keep Ebola contained and away from American shores.

Forcing people to be generous isn’t humanitarian, effective, compassionate or moral. Only acts that are truly voluntary for all concerned can be truly compassionate.

What was the reason for invading Iraq’ Was it a humanitarian crusade or an economic one’ I would be inclined to say the latter. It was the same with the Civil War, because the landed gentry’s money was being stolen by the king.

The largest humanitarian victory we can deliver is by wiping ISIS off the face of the earth.

I love the good Russian world, the humanitarian Russian world, but I do not love the Russian world of Beria, Stalin, and Shoigu.

I was profoundly moved to be the first United Nations Secretary-General to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima. I also visited Nagasaki. Sadly, we know the terrible humanitarian consequences from the use of even one weapon. As long as such weapons exist, so, too, will the risks of use and proliferation.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

When millions of kids are missing out on school, delivering educational services becomes an issue that concerns the humanitarian system.

The children and families seeking asylum at our border deserve our immediate attention and humanitarian aid.

A degree in Liberal Arts has long been considered the most adaptable, with humanitarian and societal studies that prepare graduates to enter a wide variety of careers.

I do believe anybody manufacturing products for healthcare cannot regard it truly as a 100 per cent business: it is business plus a humanitarian approach to society because you are saving lives. You are playing with people’s lives.

So I’ve gone in and out of the U.N., working on counter-terrorism, on U.N. reform, on peacekeeping, peace and security issues, many things through the years but always with a strong interest in humanitarian issues, and human rights issues as well.

I can see the gravity of this pandemic as my parents are doctors. This is not only a health crisis and we need to be on humanitarian grounds. It gives me immense satisfaction to help people who are in need and it is a very basic thing that I can do in these tough times.

Humanitarian action cannot be held hostage to political ends.

There are still civil rights issues. There are still people who can’t be visited by their spouse in the hospital because they’re gay. These are humanitarian issues. At the end of the day, all you want is for people to be happy in the pursuit of life, love and liberty.

Emancipation came to the colored race in America as a war measure. It was an act of military necessity. Manifestly it would have come without war, in the slower process of humanitarian reform and social enlightenment.

I think when I started going to war zones and started covering humanitarian issues, it became a calling because I realized I had a voice, and I can give people without a voice a voice… and now it is something that sits inside of me every day.

If I don’t talk about my religion, if I say I’m not discussing it or different humanitarian things I’m working on, they’re like, ‘He’s avoiding it.’ If I do talk about it, it becomes, ‘Oh, he’s proselytizing.’

I’ve had the privilege of working with Bono for the past few years in the One Campaign to fight AIDS and hunger and disease around the world. Bono is an Irishman and a great humanitarian. And I remember him telling me of his admiration for America.

The fight against global warming is a humanitarian issue – how the planet can be preserved – and it is also an issue of considerable economic importance, of what we call green growth.

Africans are on the front lines of humanitarian efforts, distributing life-saving aid in dangerous environments. Africans comprise the vast majority of peacekeepers in civil conflict on that continent. Africans for the most part lead peace negotiations for the wars being fought in Africa.

We are glad to tie up with a humanitarian organization, which is being promoted by Prince Abdul Aziz. This partnership will greatly help in assisting needy renal-failure patients by supplying them equipment, medicines and other medical supplies, while encouraging and supporting scientific research.

Ben Affleck exec-produced a documentary for HBO called ‘Reporter’ about my 2007 win-a-trip journey. I take the trip each year partly to encourage young people to think about global humanitarian issues: I think blogs by a student may be more compelling for that audience than my own work.

Humanitarian missions are little different from any other public enterprise, diplomacy included, which is susceptible of misinterpretation by the public, hence ultimately of failure.

I think we are challenged in how we define humanitarian action today and how we relate to long-term needs. We are also confronted with legitimate expectations from the people who want us to respond far more thoroughly to their basic pleas than we would have done in a much more contained form of conflict.

We cannot guarantee that a humanitarian catastrophe of the extent of the Holocaust will not happen again. On the contrary, we witness a catalogue of atrocities every day in wars across the globe.

The E.U. intends to be one of the biggest humanitarian donors on the Syrian crisis.

Rising sea levels, severe draughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

I’d finished a dissertation, writing about how international humanitarian organizations worked with kids in war zones and then I made this transition from the academic world to officer candidate school and to the SEAL teams. It was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

When you look at the humanitarian issues – poverty, education, rights, violence – I think there are positive trends. But when you look at climate change, at plastic pollution and other forms of pollution, at overconsumption, it’s a different story.

There’s a great satisfaction in humanitarian work.

Why do musicians give so much time to charitable causes? The most humanitarian cause that we can give our time to is the creation and performance of music itself.

The BET definition of a humanitarian is someone who perpetuates a war on cops.

The principal cause of suffering during humanitarian crises is insufficient respect of applicable rules of international humanitarian law.

I have the privilege of working with our in-house design studio, called Samara, and our humanitarian team, called Human. Samara is thinking about the future of Airbnb, and Human is working on ways to leverage our platform outside the cause of day-to-day business.

Humanitarian work is something I’ve felt from very young, and I’m going to do that for sure.

My father was a humanitarian, but he didn’t side one way or another with any certain right’s groups. He just believed in people.

We’ve killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf war – mostly by blocking humanitarian aid.

The advantage of using airships in remote areas with little road infrastructure to support development is clear. Airships could ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies to remote communities.

We estimate that humanitarian agencies have access to about 350,000 vulnerable people in Darfur – only about one third of the estimated total population in need.

The Great Seal was an early proclamation of ‘humanitarian intervention,’ to use the currently fashionable phrase.

I’m not a do-gooder. It embarrassed me to be classified as a humanitarian. I simply take part in activities that I believe in.

Ethiopia’s government is doing a commendable job of working closely with donors and humanitarian organizations to educate parents about child marriage, and to support organizations like the Hamlin Fistula Hospital.

I see this as my humanitarian legacy. We’re prepared to pay billions.

Our country has been the leading provider of humanitarian aid for refugees.

I’ve been a philanthropist for all my life, and… I’ve had many involvements in humanitarian and environmental issues.

There are causes that are dear to me personally including encouraging entrepreneurship, improving livelihoods as well as helping humanitarian rescue and relief efforts.

There’s so many issues tied to the meat industry. I mean, social, environmental, humanitarian – all of them. I know that when I’m eating that I’m not hurting the planet, I’m not hurting other people on this planet, I’m not hurting animals… and I’m not hurting nature.

Bono is my inspiration – not only as a rock star but as a humanitarian. We aren’t just put on this earth to sell records. Maybe it’s because of my upbringing, but I do consider myself a moral guy.

We need to continue to modernise current humanitarian work while at the same time drive a more systemic shift in how we envision the operation and financing of humanitarian solutions.

Short-termism is no longer an option. We have to envisage humanitarian action with a medium- and long-term perspective.

Art to me is a humanitarian act and I believe that there is a responsibility that art should somehow be able to effect mankind, to make the word a better place.

I think no one knows what humanitarian intervention means. If I were a person who was non-American, I would think humanitarian intervention is just another name for United States imperialism.

Perhaps the most striking assault on the foundations of traditional liberties is a little-known case brought to the Supreme Court by the Obama administration, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.

We do foreign assistance for altruistic reasons, certainly for humanitarian reasons, of course. But the main reason we do foreign assistance is we do it in the American national interest.

In an effort to provide my constituents with information on how they can make contributions to a number of relief and humanitarian organizations, I have posted a short list of these groups and contact numbers on my Internet website.

Every day, we hear of civilians being killed and wounded in violation of the basic rules of international humanitarian law and with total impunity. Instability is spreading. Suffering is growing. No country can remain untouched.