Some people see me as someone who makes other people look bad... I often get a feeling most people don't know who I am, or have a clue, and I live with that. I don't try to prove anything by talking.

I have been an organizer and then activist and a legislator, all of that. But then there's this big gap after I advanced in Congress and ended up as the ranking member of financial services committee. It took me into the financial services issues and Wall Street and Dodd Frank. And it took me away from the things that I did years ago.

I've seen a lot of poverty - coming up as a young child, lost hopes and dreams and people that never had a chance to have a decent quality of life. I believe we can do a lot greater than that.

Maxine Waters Quotes