Marian Wright Edelman

I try to act out of faith.

— Marian Wright Edelman

You really can change the world if you care enough.

— Marian Wright Edelman

Whoever said anyone has the right to give up.

— Marian Wright Edelman

Service is what life is all about.

— Marian Wright Edelman

Don't be afraid of hard work.

— Marian Wright Edelman

This act will leave a moral blot on his presidency

— Marian Wright Edelman

In politics, there are no friends.

— Marian Wright Edelman

Hope is the best contraceptive.

— Marian Wright Edelman

People who don't vote have no call on political leaders!

— Marian Wright Edelman

Children cannot lobby and cannot vote. We must speak for them.

— Marian Wright Edelman

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

— Marian Wright Edelman

It is a spiritually impoverished nation that permits infants and children to be the poorest Americans.

— Marian Wright Edelman

“Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t sweat and struggle for”

— Marian Wright Edelman

“Service is the rent we pay for the life we have been given.”

— Marian Wright Edelman

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

— Marian Wright Edelman

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

— Marian Wright Edelman

Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.

— Marian Wright Edelman

A nation that does not stand for its children does not stand for anything and will not stand tall in the future.

— Marian Wright Edelman

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

— Marian Wright Edelman

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do…

— Marian Wright Edelman

Every day I wear my Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth medallions around my neck. When I think I'm having a bad day, I…

— Marian Wright Edelman

So much of the deep lingering sadness over President Kennedy's assassination is about the unfinished promise: unspoken speeches, unfulfilled hopes, the wondering…

— Marian Wright Edelman

It really takes a community to raise children, no matter how much money one has. Nobody can do it well alone. And…

— Marian Wright Edelman

Understand and be confident that each of us can make a difference by caring and acting in small as well as big…

— Marian Wright Edelman

The core of the culture is racism and how black men are viewed. They've always been demonized and seen as threats in…

— Marian Wright Edelman

I was taught that the world had a lot of problems; that I could struggle and change them; that intellectual and material…

— Marian Wright Edelman

God, please help us remember that all the darkness in the world cannot snuff out the light of one little candle. Help…

— Marian Wright Edelman

If we think we have ours and don't owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we…

— Marian Wright Edelman

If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money…

— Marian Wright Edelman

I grew up in a very religious family and it is the motivating force to every thing I do. I am fortunate…

— Marian Wright Edelman

I'm sure I am impatient sometimes. I sure do get angry sometimes. I think it's outrageous how hard it is to get…

— Marian Wright Edelman

As [Martin Luther] King said, it never cost anybody a dime to integrate the lunch counters. When you start talking about trying…

— Marian Wright Edelman

“I've tried to teach what I learned all those years in my mother and father's house, all those things I didn't realize…

— Marian Wright Edelman

It is so important not to let ourselves off the hook or to become apathetic or cynical by telling ourselves that nothing…

— Marian Wright Edelman

I grew up in a very religious family and it is the motivating force to every thing I do. I am fortunate…

— Marian Wright Edelman

When I started out as an activist, the issues were much clearer. There's advantage to the new media, but on the other…

— Marian Wright Edelman

I wasn't thinking about history. I was thinking about how we were going to end segregation at lunch counters in Atlanta, Georgia.We…

— Marian Wright Edelman

In 1990, when we started the Black Community Crusade for Children, we were always talking about all children, but we paid particular…

— Marian Wright Edelman

Let all children come unto me.

— Marian Wright Edelman

I try to be a person of faith.

— Marian Wright Edelman