A government is invigorated when each of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation.
Barbara Jordan

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.
Barbara Jordan

But this is the great danger America faces. That we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual. Each seeking to satisfy private wants.
Barbara Jordan

Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.
Barbara Jordan

Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.
Barbara Jordan

Even as I stand here and admit that we have made mistakes I still believe that as the people of America sit in judgment on each party, they will recognize that our mistakes were mistakes of the heart. They'll recognize that.
Barbara Jordan

For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.
Barbara Jordan

I believe that women have a capacity for understanding and compassion which man structurally does not have, does not have it because he cannot have it. He's just incapable of it.
Barbara Jordan

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."
Barbara Jordan

I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
Barbara Jordan


I never intended to become a run-of-the-mill person.
Barbara Jordan

I think it no accident that most of those emigrating to America in the 19th century identified with the Democratic Party. We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds.
Barbara Jordan

If we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If we as public officials propose, we must produce.
Barbara Jordan

If you're going to play the game properly, you'd better know every rule.
Barbara Jordan

In other times, I could stand here and give this kind of exposition on the beliefs of the Democratic Party and that would be enough. But today that is not enough. People want more.
Barbara Jordan

It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.
Barbara Jordan

Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.
Barbara Jordan

Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community. It's tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny.
Barbara Jordan

Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans.
Barbara Jordan

Let's all understand that these guiding principles cannot be discarded for short-term political gains. They represent what this country is all about. They are indigenous to the American idea. And these are principles which are not negotiable.
Barbara Jordan