Barbara Jordan

"Earlier today we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. ‘We the people.’ It is a very eloquent beginning. But, when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that ‘We, the people.’ I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But, through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’"

"My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."

"A spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny; if each of us remembers, when bitterness and self-interest seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny."

"What people want is simple. They want an America as good as its promise."

"You need a core inside you—a core that directs everything you do. You confer with it for guidance. It is not negotiable."

"This country can ill afford to continue to function using less than half of its human resources, less than half its kinetic energy, less than half its brain power."

"Those who hold the public trust must adhere to the highest ethical standards there are. The job requires it, and the public must demand it."

"There is no obstacle in the path of young people who are poor or members of minority groups that hard work and preparation cannot cure."

"It was immigration that taught us, it does not matter where you came from, or who your parents were. What counts is who you are."

"They were remarkable women and deserve to be remembered that way."