Richard Edelman Quotes

Working with the media remains an effective and essential way to raise issues, educate the public, and prod policy-makers and corporate leaders to change for the better.

I could just go to the horse races and take lovely holidays, but I have some strong views, and I want to make a difference.

I've had some interesting roles along the way, but they tend to be cause-driven. They're always about something. There isn't time for character work as an actor because you're fighting the cause or mourning the child or fighting the disease, etc.

By bringing the voices of the ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges to television screens around the world, I hope to affect change in one community at a time.

I think that what we've been able to do is put together both a good group of scholars and analysts and people who aggressively want to make the case to the American public.

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.

Spreading an idea is hard work.

The biggest challenge is how to affect public attitudes and make people care.

You can't always measure the effects of activist work; you just have to wish and pray that the message gets through.

It takes time for people to get to know a cause or an organization.

I have seen how effective language attached to policies that are mainstream and delivered by people who are passionate and effective can change the course of history.

There is little or no point being chair of the Labour Party and being ignored when engaging with Labour ministers when you're trying to articulate something that affects ordinary people in society.

My involvement in the political arena is to make sure there's a place for culture.

I think that celebrities should never underestimate their power. I mean just to draw attention, because then people get involved on a personal level.

Documentaries are a powerful and effective way of bridging the gap between worlds, breaking through to new audiences that wouldn't otherwise be engaged - in essence, not preaching to the choir.

When I hear so-called professional journalists ask why we have celebrities speak for us and for the animals, the environment or social causes, I marvel at their denial of the rules of their own trade.

I think I've done a good job of trying to figure out ways to continue to use my voice and platform for the right things.

Whenever I have a message to get out I seem to find a way to get my message out.

I don't see myself as an activist. I understand that people, with me doing 'Satyameva Jayate,' for example, they will feel that I'm being an activist, but I'm not. Actually, I'm not, because I think an activist, as I see it, as a person who is very, very - takes up one issue and remains with that one issue for his entire life. I'm not doing that.

It's not about how much screen time I have, what matters is reaching out to a huge number of people.

To see that I have this huge platform now, and so many people are listening to what I have to say, it really makes me want to orientate toward something that would really educate people, create awareness, do something more than just show them a cute outfit or what I'm having for lunch.

You can spread awareness through entertainment.

I am not some intellectual hoping to be understood a century from now. I'm a political leader. I have to stand in front of my community. If I am a metre too far out in front of the people, I'll lose them.

The way I see it, any attention I get, for whatever reason, just draws more eyes to the causes that I believe in.

Our players are not immune to the things that are going on in society.