“The Declaration of Independence was always our vision of who we wanted to be, our ideal of freedom and justice, how we were going to be different, and what the American experiment was going to be about.”

“A nation that does not stand for its children does not stand for anything and will not stand tall in the future.”

“Remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.”

“If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.”

“Unless children have strong education and strong families and strong communities and decent housing, it's not enough to go sit in at a lunch counter.”

“Education is a precondition to survival in America today.”

“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”

“We do not have a money problem in America. We have a values and priorities problem.”

“The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people's children.”

“Hunger and malnutrition have devastating consequences for children and have been linked to low birth weight and birth defects, obesity, mental and physical health problems, and poorer educational outcomes.”

“The Declaration of Independence was always our vision of who we wanted to be, our ideal of freedom and justice, how we were going to be different, and what the American experiment was going to be about.”