Rosalynn Carter Quotations

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.

If you look at suicides, most of them are connected to depression. And the mental health system just fails them. It's so sad. We know what to do. We just don't do it.

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

One day, I made a remark that I might work with people with mental illness, and somebody in the press heard it, and it was in the paper. And the more I thought about it and found out about it, the more I thought it was just a terrible situation with no attention. And I've been working on it ever since.

If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.

Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.

Early diagnosis is so important because the earlier a mental illness can be detected, diagnosed and treatment can begin, the better off that person can be for the rest of his or her life.

San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in the world.

Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it.

Once you get involved the needs are so great.

There was no way I could understand our defeat. I had to grieve over our loss before I could look to the future. Where could our lives possibly be as meaningful as they might have been in the White House?

Informed journalists can have a significant impact on public understanding of mental health issues, as they shape debate and trends with the words and pictures they convey, ... They influence their peers and stimulate discussion among the general public, and an informed public can reduce stigma and discrimination.

I think the city of Washington itself is insular to a certain extent. You have to get out in the country to realize what is going on and discover that the perceptions in Washington aren't necessarily accurate.

First ladies throughout our history have been expected to be adoring wives and perfect mothers ...

There is clearly much left to be done, and whatever else we are going to do, we had better get on with it.

My greatest disappointment in all the projects I worked on during the White House years was the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified. ... Why all the controversy and why such difficulty in giving women the protection of the Constitution that should have been theirs long ago?

Times of upheaval require not just more leadership but more leaders. People at all organizational levels, whether anointed or self-appointed, must be empowered to share leadership responsibilities.

Without volunteers, we'd be a nation without a soul.

We have to get the word out that mental illnesses can be diagnosed and treated, and almost everyone suffering from mental illness can live meaningful lives in their communities.

Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence.

I had already learned from more than a decade of political life that I was going to be criticized no matter what I did, so I might as well be criticized for something I wanted to do.

Kindness is the connection that links us all together and strengthens the bonds within our communities, neighborhoods, and families.

If we have not achieved our early dreams, we must either find new ones or see what we can salvage from the old. If we have accomplished what we set out to do in our youth, we need not weep like Alexander the Great that we have no more worlds to conquer.

People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries for help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. Because it will not go away, and because of our spiritual commitments, we are compelled to take action.

If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

I believe that one of the most important things to learn in life is that you can make a difference in your community no matter who you are or where you live.

There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.