Marian Wright Edelman Quotes

We cannot afford to leave the poor behind.

In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land.

When you talk about war on poverty it doesn't mean very much; but if you can show to some degree this sort of thing then you can show a great deal more of how people are living and a very great percentage of our people today.

Without better economic opportunity, you can't have better public security and vice versa.

I contend that, in spite of all that might be said about Watergate, Richard Nixon was good for the poor people of America.

Poverty must be reduced not only for reasons of moral and justice, but also of security.

Reducing poverty is in our own interest.

The poorhouse is vanishing from among us.... We ... today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.... We shall soon ... be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.

This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.

Preventing poverty beats curing it.

Poverty decreased in America as a result of the War on Poverty

We will not rest until this war [on poverty] is won.

There should be whole-hearted, full commitment to remove poverty - only we are doing it.

I'm obsessed about lifting the greatest number of Argentines possible out of poverty as quickly as possible.

And I do not intend to lead a state where we simply tolerate poverty in our communities.

We need to build an Argentina with zero poverty.

As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it, the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

Franklin Roosevelt said the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance to those who have much; it is whether we provide enough to those who have too little. This reconciliation package fails that test as well.

The great responsibility that we have today is to put the poor and the near poor back on front of the American agenda.

Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal.

Haiti's economy cannot be built by and benefit just a privileged few. It must be built by and benefit all Haitians.

Economic growth doesn't mean anything if it leaves people out.

In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

Even the best community organizations and faith-based initiatives and the extraordinary charity of Americans across the country can't carry the brunt of eliminating poverty.