Marian Edelman Quotes

"It's time for greatness -- not for greed. It's a time for idealism -- not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action."

"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."

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

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

"Education is a precondition to survival in America today."

"Service is what life is all about."

"We have a huge black middle class. But they have to remember to look back and bring others along."

"Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it."

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

"So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done."

"It's everywhere. Guns and violence are in every nook and cranny of America. Many children can get a gun quicker than they can get a book out of the library. That puts us all at risk."

"Bill was passionate, vocal and risk-taking about the enduring values, peace and justice."

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

"The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to."

"If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out."

"The planned execution of Mr. Williams will leave a permanent scar on the conscience of the state of Georgia, on your administration and on our nation."

"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."

"No person has the right to rain on your dreams."

"We may draw good out of evil; we must not do evil, that good may come."

"You just think of them playing baseball and basketball, anything fun, not waiting for someone to come out and attack them."