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

No person has the right to rain on your dreams.

The outside world told black kids when I was growing up that we weren't worth anything. But our parents said it wasn't so, and our churches and our schoolteachers said it wasn't so. They believed in us, and we, therefore, believed in ourselves.

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.

Children teach us to be courageous and to stand up against injustice.

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

I worry about the kids who have too much. As a parent living in a so-called good neighborhood with children who went to private high school, I found myself spending much time in parent groups worrying about alcohol, unsupervised parties, and parents not being parents. We've got to send messages to our kids about what is important.