Quotes By Marian Wright Edelman

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.

Family and moral values are so central to everything that I am.

Unless children have strong education and strong families and strong communities and decent housing, it's not enough to go sit in at a lunch counter.

You didn't have a choice about the parents you inherited, but you do have a choice about the kind of parent you will be.

We have the capacity to make sure that every mother has pre-natal care. Yet, we don't do it. What is it about America? It says we don't value children and families. We are hypocrites.

The Declaration of Independence was always our vision of who we wanted to be, our ideal of freedom and justice, how we were going to be different, and what the American experiment was going to be about.

The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people's children.

We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.

If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.

The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.

My faith has been the driving thing of my life. I think it is important that people who are perceived as liberals not be afraid of talking about moral and community values.

You really can change the world if you care enough.

If things are too easy, life is a whole lot less interesting.

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.

It was very clear to me in 1965, in Mississippi, that, as a lawyer, I could get people into schools, desegregate the schools, but if they were kicked off the plantations - and if they didn't have food, didn't have jobs, didn't have health care, didn't have the means to exercise those civil rights, we were not going to have success.

Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.

Together we can and must fight for justice for our children and protect them from draconian tax cuts and budget choices that threaten their survival, education and preparation for the future. If they are not ready for tomorrow, neither is America.

No one, Eleanor Roosevelt said, can make you feel inferior without your consent. Never give it.

Learn to be quiet enough to hear the genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in others.

Semi-automatic weapons have no socially redeeming purpose.

To all those mothers and fathers who are struggling with teen-agers, I say, just be patient: even though it looks like you can't do anything right for a number of years, parents become popular again when kids reach 20.

In politics, there are no friends.

Don't feel entitled to anything you didn't sweat and struggle for.

I try to act out of faith.

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.

No person has the right to rain on your dreams.

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.

People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests.

Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.