I'm tough in the sense that I believe as strongly in what I'm doing as anybody else believes in what they are doing.
Marian Wright EdelmanWe 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.
Marian Wright EdelmanWe'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.
Marian Wright EdelmanBe a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.
Marian Wright EdelmanI never thought I was breaking a glass ceiling. I just had to do what I had to do, and it never occurred to me not to.
Marian Wright EdelmanAs [Martin Luther] King said, it never cost anybody a dime to integrate the lunch counters. When you start talking about trying to deal with jobs and hunger and things that require investment, then that's really the tough stuff, because everybody wants to do right if it doesn't cost them anything.
Marian Wright Edelman