Homeless shelters, child hunger, and child suffering have become normalized in the richest nation on earth. It's time to reset our moral compass and redefine how we measure success. Marian Wright Edelman More Quotes by Marian Wright Edelman More Quotes From Marian Wright Edelman We are not going to deal with the violence in our communities, our homes, and our nation, until we learn to deal with the basic ethic of how we resolve our disputes and to place an emphasis on peace in the way we relate to one another. Marian Wright Edelman community home peace Education is a precondition to survival in America today. Marian Wright Edelman survival education america Whoever said anybody has a right to give up? Marian Wright Edelman determination success motivational No one, Eleanor Roosevelt said, can make you feel inferior without your consent. Never give it. Marian Wright Edelman respect positive giving Semi-automatic weapons have no socially redeeming purpose. Marian Wright Edelman redeeming weapons purpose Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night. Marian Wright Edelman money work inspiring If we think we have ours and don't owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans and the very dream that is America. Marian Wright Edelman effort peace thinking The civil-rights movement was completely impossible to achieve. But look at what ordinary people were able to do because they were willing to sacrifice their lives to stay with it. They didn't expect a political process to respond to them. They made the political process respond to them. To say "It's so bad I won't bother" is to give up on your children and give up on your future. Marian Wright Edelman sacrifice giving-up children In every seed of good there is always a piece of bad. Marian Wright Edelman seeds pieces Why are guns the only unregulated consumer products in America? We regulate toy guns and teddy bears, but we do not regulate a product that kills 4,600 children a year. Marian Wright Edelman gun children years Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right. Marian Wright Edelman failure writing inspirational The literacy level at Mississippi prisons? Fifth grade. Can't read, what are you going to do? If you've got a conviction rap, what are you going to do? It's a real crisis. Marian Wright Edelman rap levels real We must serve consciously as caring role models, emphasizing the ethic of service, not consumption. Marian Wright Edelman african-american role-models caring Every child’s life is sacred and it is long past time that we protect it. Marian Wright Edelman long children past Be grateful for good breaks and kind favors but don't count on them. Marian Wright Edelman grateful favors kind [Rosa Louise] Parks used to say, "Everybody looks at me because I sat down once in Montgomery, but the real hero is a woman named Septima Clark."She created the Citizenship Schools [where civil-rights activists taught basic literacy and political education classes]. Marian Wright Edelman real hero school You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. Marian Wright Edelman success inspiring happiness Service is the rent we pay for living. Marian Wright Edelman volunteerism helping-others pay I feel very lucky to have grown up having interaction with adults who were making change but who were far from perfect beings. That feeling of not being paralyzed by your incredible inadequacy as a human being, which I feel every day, is a part of the legacy that I've gotten from so many of the adult elders. Marian Wright Edelman adults perfect feelings People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests. Marian Wright Edelman african-american credit people