Quotes from Eunice Kennedy Shriver

... my mother and father ... raised nine of us and taught each to do our best ... We tried.

Looks fade. Brains don't.

If you don't have an idea that materializes and changes a person's life, then what have you got? You have talk, research, telephone calls, meetings, but you don't have a change in the community.

People are always saying, what use are the retarded, on welfare, using up all our funds, and yet, where else is there every day a greater example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity than these people?

I'm very happy doing what I do. And if I were in the White House I would be really interested in continuing to do what I do, which is working... That's a very cold answer, I guess, but I was trying to answer in terms of ambition.

I don't particularly want to be in the White House.

You are the stars and the world is watching you. By your presence, you send a message to every village, every city, every nation. A message of hope. A message of victory.

For a long time my family believed that all of us working together could provide my sister with a happy life in our midst. My parents, strong believers in family loyalty, rejected suggestions that Rosemary be sent away to an institution.

When you're in a big family you have to hustle all the time. But I think that's a good quality to instill in your children, for whatever they have to get.

The Chicago Special Olympics prove a very fundamental fact, the fact that exceptional children - children with mental retardation - can be exceptional athletes, the fact that through sports they can realize their potential for growth.

Do the best you can, and then to hell with it!