by Marion Wright Edelman
- There is no free lunch. Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t sweat and struggle for.
- Set goals and work quietly and systematically toward them.
- Assign yourself.
- Never work for just money or for power. They won’t save your soul or build a decent family or help you sleep at night.
- Don’t be afraid of taking risks or of being criticized.
- Take parenting and family life seriously and insist that those you work for and who represent you do.
- Remember that your wife/husband is not your mother/father or servant, but your partner and friend.
- Forming families is serious business.
- Be honest.
- Remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important that the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.
- Sell the shadow for the substance.
- Never give up!
- Be confident that you can make a difference.
- Don’t ever stop learning and improving your mind.
- Don’t be afraid of hard work or teaching your children to work.
- Slow down and live.
- Choose your friends carefully.
- Be a can-do, will-try person.
- Try to live in the present.
- Use your political and economic power for the community.
- Listen for "the sound of the genuine" within yourself and others.
- You are in charge of your own attitude.
- Remember your roots, your history, and the forebears’ shoulder on which you stand.
- Be reliable. Be faithful. Finish what you start.
- Always remember that you are never alone.
Thanks to Laurie Mann for reminding me of this wonderful essay.