Marian Wright Edelman Quotes

Nothing is more important to our shared future than the well-being of children. For children are at our core - not only as vulnerable beings in need of love and care but as a moral touchstone amidst the complexity and contentiousness of modern life.

I support anything to do with the welfare and rights of children in a huge way.

If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.

I do most of my work with kids. They are the very foundation of our future. We are so incredibly disrespectful to them in America in every way because they can't vote.

Children are truly the future of this country - our next teachers, they're our next doctors, they're our next police officers, and they're our next Members of Congress. It's our responsibility to do everything that we can to protect them and make sure that children are able to live, learn, and grow up in safe environments.

Children are our future and if we use them in battle, we are destroying the future. We must reclaim them, every one of them, one at a time.

Children should not be used as pawns in a political fight.

I get very concerned when we start hearing people who want to convert this country into a safe place for children. I am adult. I want available what I need to see.

Let all children come unto me.

Every time a child is saved from the dark side of life, every time one of us makes the effort to make a difference in a child's life, we add light and healing to our own lives.

The social rights of children must be recognized so that a world suited to their needs may be constructed for them. The greatest crime that society commits is that of wasting the money which it should use for children on things that will destroy them and society itself as well.

Nothing is more important in our national life than the welfare of our children.

The greatest respect is owed to a child.

No child asks to get born, so when they are here, they should be shielded from any possible horror.

Every child’s life is sacred and it is long past time that we protect it.

When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses.

The cause of making the world a better place for children unites us all - today HIV/AIDS is the biggest threat to this one universal objective. UNICEF needs us all to help them change the world for children

I have always been drawn to child-related causes. I find that people listen to me more when I advocate for children now that I have my own.

My personal position is that society must keep children safe.

Thus the Convention is unequivocal in its call for children to be consulted, to have their opinions heard and to have their best interests considered when law and policies are being drafted.

And if I could get the mayors, and the governors, and the president to look into the eyes of the five-year-olds of this nation, dressed in old raggedy clothes, whose zippers are broken but whose dreams are still alive, they would know what I know-that children need people to fight for them. To stand with them on the most dangerous streets, in the dirtiest hallways, in their darkest hours.

When it comes to children’s issues, children don’t vote.

The last thing our children need is less protection.

I really am glad that the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has had the courage to stand up and say that children should not be hit under any circumstances. I am a committed supporter of this campaigning charity for children.

Plan International protects the rights of children and young women, and I'm an ambassador for the 'Because I Am a Girl' campaign.