"Democracy is not a spectator sport. And what upsets me is we've lulled ourselves in America into a state of sedentary agitation, where everybody can sit on their couch and get upset about what's going on but not get off their backsides and realize that they are responsible for the change that they need to make.

We who drink deeply from wells that we did not dig, we who eat lavishly from banquet tables set up for us by the sacrifices and struggles of our ancestors, are we just going to luxuriate in all that's America?  Or are we going to realize that this nation has not finished itself yet, and we must return the blessings of our ancestors by showing the same sacrifice and commitment?"

~ Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, USA

"Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

-Martin Luther King Jr.

"I am convinced that the world is not a mere bog in which men and women trample themselves and die. Something magnificent is taking place here amidst the cruelties and tragedies, and the supreme challenge to intelligence is that of making the noblest and best in our curious heritage prevail."

-- C.A. Beard

"Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good. "

-- Calvin Coolidge

"Don't leave it up to someone else -- you're the one who can make a difference."

"What is the reason for this attitude of the developed Nations? In the Twentieth Century self-interest, sovereignty and taking care of number one, became the primary criteria for any serious provision of support or resources to the world's trouble spots. If the country in question is of any possible strategic value to the world powers, then it seems that everything from covert operations to the outright use of overwhelming force is fair game. If not, indifference is the order of the day. To imagine that these same world powers have magically leapt ahead in this new age of humanity (as Kofi Anan named it in his seminal speech at the millennium UN General Assembly in September, 2000) could not be further from the truth. It will take the world's dedicated will and means to move from the 20th century - the century of 'Genocide' to the century of Humanity."

~ Lt.General Romeo Dallaire, the Head of Mission of the U N Chapter 6 Peace Keeping Force in Rwanda

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail,
not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
--Baruch Spinoza

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
~Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Many people believe that support is something that you give to someone you feel sorry for or that it means propping up someone who would fail unless you were there to give him a boost. But that's not the way I see it. Support is the boost you can give someone who can help himself but who needs a partner to open a window or push aside a roadblock."

-- Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's

"Poverty is the worst form of violence."
~ Ghandi

"Men are respectable only as they respect."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882

"If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are."

John W. Gardner
1912-, American Educator, Social Activist