She was a practical idealist. Her goal was to create a more just society where "women and children, immigrants and the poor, all ethnicities and religious groups would realize America's promise of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"
"Over broken asphalt, over dirty mattresses and heaps of refuse we went...There were two rooms and a family of seven not only lived here but shared their quarters with boarders...[I felt] ashamed of being a part of society that permitted such conditions to exist... What I had seen had shown me where my path lay."
[Her enthusiasm for special education project] "came from a deep-lying principle that every human being merits respectful consideration of his rights and his personality."
"Some have found the Settlement to be an opportunity for self-realization...All of us who have worked together have worked not for each other but for the cause of human progress; that is the beginning and it should be the end of The House of Henry Street."
"Never in all the years have we on Henry Street doubted the validity of our belief in the essential dignity of man and the obligations of each generation to do better for the oncoming generation."
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