The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people’s children.
About Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelmanis an American activist for civil rights and children’s rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund.
More quotes from Marian Wright Edelman
Learn to be quiet enough to hear the genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in others.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Whoever said anybody has a right to give up?
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
No one, Eleanor Roosevelt said, can make you feel inferior without your consent. Never give it.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Parents have become so convinced that educators know what is best for their children that they forget that they themselves are really the experts.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Far less wealthy industrialized countries have committed to end child poverty, while the United States is sliding backwards. We can do better. We must demand that our leaders do better.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
You really can change the world if you care enough.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people’s children.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
If we think we have ours and don’t owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back – but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Education is a precondition to survival in America today.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
Service is what life is all about.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)
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.
American activist for children's rights (born 1939)