Marian Wright Edelman Quotes
-
We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.
-
We're spending, on average, three times more for prison than for public-school pupils. That's the dumbest investment policy. It doesn't make us safer.
-
Don't be afraid of hard work.
-
I try to act out of faith.
-
The poor have been sent to the front lines of a federal budget deficit reduction war that few other groups were drafted to fight.
-
Children don't vote but adults who do must stand up and vote for them.
-
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.
-
We're a violent nation, and we need to confront it. This gun plague has to stop.
-
Don't wait for, expect, or rely on favors. Count on earning them by hard work and perseverance.
-
Parents have become so convinced that educators know what is best for their children that they forget that they themselves are really the experts.
-
It's the new slavery. It came out of the drug laws and it really is something we're going to have to confront, but I don't see enough people up in arms about that. We need to be.
-
What's wrong with our children? Adults telling children to be honest while lying and cheating. Adults telling children to not be violent while marketing and glorifying violence... I believe that adult hypocrisy is the biggest problem children face in America.
-
If it's wrong for 13-year-old inner-city girls to have babies without the benefit of marriage, it's wrong for rich celebrities, and we ought to stop putting them on the cover of People magazine.
-
It is [children] who are God's presence, promise and hope for mankind.
-
A nation that does not stand for its children does not stand for anything and will not stand tall in the future.
-
Democracy cannot breathe, indeed will die, if those enjoined to protect it and uphold the laws snuff it out - with no consequences.
-
We are not going to deal with the violence in our communities, our homes, and our nation, until we learn to deal with the basic ethic of how we resolve our disputes and to place an emphasis on peace in the way we relate to one another.
-
There are so many noises and pulls and competing demands in our lives that many of us never find out who we are. Learn to be quiet enough to hear the sound of the genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in other people.
-
Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right.
-
I don't care what my children choose to do professionally, just as long as within their choices they understand they've got to give something back.
-
Amidst protestations of 'Who can be against the children?' too few people are FOR children when it really matters.
-
We all need to get out of our safety zones too. In addition to voting, we need to embarrass people who don't do the right thing. It's going to take citizen action.
-
You really can change the world if you care enough.
-
Don't feel entitled to anything you didn't sweat and struggle for.