If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time.

We've got to work to save our children and do it with full respect for the fact that if we do not, no one else is going to do it.

We had people of all backgrounds coming together - all races, all creeds, all colors, all status in life. And coming together there was a kind of quiet dignity and a kind of sense of caring and a feeling of joint responsibility.

We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity.

Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.

When you're a black woman, you seldom get to do what you just want to do; you always do what you have to do.

I want to be remembered as one who tried.