William Friday

North Carolina · resident1920–2012

American educator (1920–2012)

Died in Chapel Hill
Studied at North Carolina State University
Studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Quotations with a citation

You have to make a decent living to provide for yourself and your family, but to be obsessed with it, to have greed as the consummate aim in life is to have no life at all.

Yes, there was student unrest, student anxiety, student concern and you would hope that the day would never come in a university where that would not be the case because if it isn't a vigorous, volatile, debating, challenging kind of atmosphere around here, I think you're a dead institution.

The important thing is that it's a never ending struggle; not that there's a devil out there to be overcome, but when you make this change, then there's another one that's better.

The great need in society today is for people who think in terms of why people, individuals, every one of us is entitled to certain fundamental things; the right of an education, to live freely and without fear, the right of protection of personal privacy.

If you want to be an effective university president, you have to lead people into decisions, and help them see what the options are, and hope that you see it together.

I learned that someone in an administrative position in a university, at the level that I was privileged to serve, can do so much more than a governor or senator, when it comes to getting lasting things done in a state.