Bonnie Bedelia Quotes

What I always wanted to do when I was a kid was to speak out and help people which I continue to do afterwards.

I am passionate about human rights.

I'm not an activist; I don't look for controversy. I'm not a political person, but I'm a person with compassion. I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights. I care about animal rights.

I always say, as an actress, I get to portray the human condition, but as an activist, I get to change the human condition.

I genuinely do want the world to change in a positive way, but I wouldn't call myself an activist, you know? I'm an entertainer who engages with activism because it feels really meaningful for me.

I've always been passionate about human rights in general. I think anyone who knows me can attest to that.

I've always been passionate about the concept of helping the underdog. It just doesn't make sense to me as to what kind of person would take a huge platform and not use it to do something, to change something, to help people.

Raising awareness, changing the marketplace, effecting spiritual change - whatever it is that you decide is your thing, go for it.

My biggest aspiration is to inspire people to do good. I believe that our wish for a harmonious world begins and ends with doing good. To inspire and empower people to focus on goodness, I wrote a new book called 'Activate Your Goodness: Transforming the World through Doing Good.'

It's an interesting line that I walk. The AIDS crisis has done a lot for my songs and made them proliferate, and my songs have contributed a lot to that cause as well.

I feel that the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life is to be associated with UNICEF.

I have lectured at the U.N. and travelled widely, giving lectures on human rights and gender inequalities in universities. But this is a life I do not wish to live. I don't want to be a showcase, I want to be in a battlefield where I can stand beside the oppressed and the poor.

The goal isn't how much money you make, but how much you help people.

In community work, you reach some people, but in writing, I can reach many more people, not only in exploring issues of domestic violence, but also by showing the importance of strong women in communities.

When enough people care about autism or diabetes or global warming, it helps everyone, even if only a tiny fraction actively participate.

I think when I started going to war zones and started covering humanitarian issues, it became a calling because I realized I had a voice, and I can give people without a voice a voice... and now it is something that sits inside of me every day.

So we gravitated to shows and issues and causes that made people care.

I usually write about ordinary people and ordinary things, but Paul Farmer is the least ordinary person I've ever met... He's the leader of a small group of people who hope to cure a sick world, and I hope my book can help in some small way.

I have an activist's desire to improve people's lives.

If I'm able to use my voice to do good in the world then I definitely want to do that.

I was able to realize that I definitely want to make sure that I use my voice, as it gets bigger and bigger, in the world for good.

I believe in the Corporal Works of Mercy, the Ten Commandments, the American Declaration of Independence and James Connolly’s outline of a socialist society… Most of my life I’ve been called a lunatic because I believe that I am my brother’s keeper. I organize poor and exploited workers, I fight for the civil rights of minorities, and I believe in peace. It appears to have become old-fashioned to make social commitments — to want a world free of war, poverty and disease. This is my religion

Use power to help people.

We must stand up and do everything we can for the people who do not have a voice.

In many ways, I consider those to be my formative years, because when you're in school, you have a distant relationship to the world in that most of what you're learning is from books and lectures. But at Amnesty, I came face to face with realities in a very direct and harsh way.