Claire Tomalin Quotes

I want to set up orphanages for underprivileged and abused children.

I've always been concerned with what happens to children in our society when there's nobody left to take care of them.

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.

As a child, I have seen what poverty is, and I try, to the best of my limits, to ensure that no kid should be deprived of his ambitions.

The Lord did not bless us with any children of our own, so we gathered up little waifs whom we thought would be neglected and would not be cared for unless we brought them into our family.

I like to think that I've got determination, and I'm fiercely protective of the people I love.

You don't leave people who can't defend themselves.

I just love kids. I always have.

When I have a family someday, I'll probably adopt. Adoption has always been something close to my heart. There are so many kids out there who really need a family.

I went to Africa without the perspective of a balance between teaching people the truth, which has been my calling, and helping people who have physical problems, like AIDS and orphans and hunger.

My happiest memory of childhood was my first birthday in reform school. This teacher took an interest in me. In fact, he gave me the first birthday presents I ever got: a box of Cracker Jacks and a can of ABC shoe polish.

We can't just rail against crime. We must speak of the root problems - devastating family breakup, an insidious culture of violence that cheapens human life, skyrocketing prisoner recidivism rates that rob our communities of husbands and fathers - and recognize that there is a societal role in rehabilitation and restoration.

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.

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.

A child deserves the maximum respect.

Orphans Preferred

You only protect what you love, and you only love what you know.

Tenderness is the name for a lover's most exquisite sensation; protection is implied in his most generous and heart-thrilling impulse.

People are surprised by the poverty and think that I wasn't cared for. But that wasn't the case - I was deeply loved.

I wrote three books about growing up in the Bronx.

I care a lot about animal welfare and children. Although I don't have children myself.

I believe that children should not be made to work.

They said if I stayed in the orphanage for another month or so, I basically would not have been able to be alive.

Growing up without love, without being cared for, might be the worst type of poverty.

Mum grew up in Wythenshawe, one of 12. My mum didn't really go to school and didn't see the need for education, she got bullied so she excluded herself.