If you don’t like the world the way it is, change it—one step at a time. Be prepared for how long change might take and how hard it will sometimes be. Always remember the quote you wrote in your diary after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak: “If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.”

Marian Wright Edelman, 72, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, in her advice to her 25 year old self