"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence. The phrase gives three examples of the "inalienable rights" which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their creator.
The specific thoughts from the Declaration of Independence are stated like this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Thomas Jefferson's thoughts in the Declaration of Independence borrow from the political philosophy of John Locke, who wrote in 1689 that "all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions."
