Lucille Clifton Quotes

But I suppose the most revolutionary act one can engage in is... to tell the truth.

A society is judged by the way it cares for its most vulnerable citizens. As an American, I am ashamed that we have turned out backs on millions of our children. I want to do my part to rectify this terrible situation.

I have a voice. It's one of my gifts. I intend to use it on behalf of the children that UNICEF seeks to aid.

If I can sit down for freedom, you can stand up for children.

I never get tired of talking about food. I do getting tired of fighting governments when they are so clearly not putting the best interest of the children forward.

So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.

Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.

Unfortunately, many children throughout the UK witness violence in the family home. Let's stand up for those children. Domestic violence needs to stop.

A child, like all other human beings, has inalienable rights.

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.

Amidst protestations of 'Who can be against the children?' too few people are FOR children when it really matters.

I won't give up until the exploitation of all children has ended and all children have their rights.

I have always admired organizations that help children grow and learn, and organizations that protect and shelter children when no one else does. And I wanted to draw attention to these organizations and recognize the contributions they were making to the country and to our children in particular.

[On her UNICEF work:] I'm glad I've got a name, because I'm using it for what it's worth. ... I do not want to see mothers and fathers digging graves for their children.

Every child needs a champion.

Children cannot eat rhetoric and they cannot be sheltered by commissions. I don't want to see another commission that studies the needs of kids. We need to help them.

The greatest respect is owed to a child.

A century that began with children having virtually no rights is ending with children having the most powerful legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects their human rights.

The U.S. is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.

I'm into anything that really helps children.

To ensure that children are protected, the abuse and exploitation of children must be brought to light and those who violate children brought to justice.

The petition of persons under eighteen, praying that I would free all slave children, and the heading of which petition it appears you wrote, was handed me a few days since by Senator Sumner. Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy, and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it.

It used to be said that this country was a child-centered one. Nothing could be further from the truth. Children have been our lowest priority, both in economic and emotional spending.

It is my deepest conviction that the children should be seen and heard as our most treasured assets.

I am not here to speak against the Taliban. I'm here to speak up for the right of every child.