Clara Barton (1821 – 1912) founded the American Red Cross. In these post-Sandy days, I think we know what a hugely positive influence she has had on our country, and around the world. Barton spent several years working as a teacher, then in 1854 she became the first woman to become a clerk in the US Patent office.  Later her position was eliminated due to protests over giving a female this job. It’s no surprise that later, when she met Susan B. Anthony, she became involved in the women’s sufferage movement. She also became an activist of civil rights after meeting Frederick Douglas. Barton spent most of her life helping others. Read more about her in this biography.  

Clara Barton Quotes

• I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.

• Everybody’s business is nobody’s business, and nobody’s business is my business.

• The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.

• An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness.

• I have an almost complete disregard of precedent and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things always have been done …. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

If everyone agreed with that last quote… oh what a future would lie before us! Onward we go…