💬 Quotes

"Faith can be a deeply personal matter, but it can also be a bridge to civic action and a shared moral language for public debate."

"Change in America usually happens slowly, by fits and starts, driven by the arduous work of coalition building and the messy compromise of legislation."

"At the heart of the American dream is the idea that the marketplace should reward talent and effort, and that accidents of birth should not dictate one's destiny."

"We cannot afford the luxury of pretending that our problems respect national borders; in a connected world, our security is tied to the security of others."

"I was born a slave—born in the fetters of slavery—and during the eventful years of my life I have experienced vicissitudes strange and varied."

"My hands were busy; I could think while working, and my thoughts were ever active. The desire to be free was strong within me."

"I had resolved to buy my freedom, and the freedom of my child. It was a brave resolve, but I knew that I had strong hands and a willing heart."

"Mrs. Lincoln was naturally kind-hearted, but she was a woman of strong impulses, and lacked that calm, evenly-balanced judgment which is so essential in high positions."

"The war cloud burst, and the country was plunged into the horrors of civil strife. Sorrow and desolation entered many homes, and the White House was not exempt."

"I have often been asked if I suffered much during the years of my bondage. Physical suffering I endured, but the bitterest pangs were felt in my soul."

"Experience sampling reveals a daily life that is far more complex, contradictory, and varied than the static portraits painted by global questionnaires."

"When adolescents are in situations that require high concentration and offer clear challenges, they experience a state of optimal experience, or flow, yet such moments are remarkably scarce in standard classrooms."

"The paradox of contemporary youth is that while they have unprecedented autonomy in how they spend their time, they frequently report feelings of apathy and a lack of direction."

"Peer contexts amplify both positive and negative emotional states, acting as an emotional sounding board that intensifies the daily fluctuations of adolescent mood."

"Alienation is not simply a rejection of society; it is often the painful byproduct of a young person's inability to find meaningful agency within institutional structures."

"Developmental growth does not occur in smooth, linear stages, but through navigating the turbulent disjunctures between what youth desire and what their environments afford."

"The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute."

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

"He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation."

"As it is useful that while mankind are not unanimous in their truest opinions, it should be everywhere open to dissentient voices to prove that the truth is refused, so is it no less necessary that true doctrines should be held as matters of conscious and intelligent preference."