Paul Wellstone

The kind of national goal we ought to be thinking about is way beyond national product - it is how do we as a nation help our children be the best kinds of people they could possibly be?

I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power.

What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.

There is a major ingredient missing from our perception of how changes are brought about; that ingredient is power.

The only way to change is to vote. People are responsible.

The first task in teaching is to bring to consciousness what the students already believe by virtue of their personal experiences about themselves and society.

Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do. Politics is what we do, politics is what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine.

Above and beyond the question of how to grow the economy there is a legitimate concern about how to grow the quality of our lives.

I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines.