Marian Wright Edelman

“Education is a precondition to survival in America today.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“The key is that your children are aware that you love them a lot, and that you are there when they really, really need you. If a kid was ill, I would simply leave a meeting and go home.”

“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.”

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

“When President Kennedy was elected, many black Americans, like so many Americans, were captivated by his youth and energy and promise and were especially hopeful that he might move the country in a new direction on civil rights.”

“We are willing to spend the least amount of money to keep a kid at home, more to put him in a foster home and the most to institutionalize him.”

“In politics, there are no friends.”

“Semi-automatic weapons have no socially redeeming purpose.”

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

“I hadn't planned on going to law school. I wanted to study 19th-century Russian literature.”

“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.”

“So much of the deep lingering sadness over President Kennedy's assassination is about the unfinished promise: unspoken speeches, unfulfilled hopes, the wondering about what might have been.”

“We must always refill and ensure there is a critical mass of leaders and activists committed to nonviolence and racial and economic justice who will keep seeding and building transforming movements.”

“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.”

“Parents have become so convinced that educators know what is best for their children that they forget that they themselves are really the experts.”

“Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right.”