Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This is not a matter of political correctness, it’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal, but for our diversity and open minds, and our big heart.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.
Change is never easy, but always possible.
If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
The cynics may be the loudest voices – but I promise you, they will accomplish the least.
We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.
The American Dream is something no wall will ever contain.
The future is not something to be feared, but something to be embraced.
The biggest deficit that we have in our society and in the world right now is an empathy deficit. We are in great need of people being able to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see the world through their eyes.
A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, ‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.’
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.
I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody’s religious beliefs – including my own – on nonbelievers.
My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.
It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
We have a stake in one another… what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart.
When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.
The best education I received was working at a community organizing project in South Side Chicago.
The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.
The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
There’s no such thing as a false choice. We have always had to balance the two and prioritize them.
Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore.
In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
We don’t ask you to believe in our ability to bring change, rather, we ask you to believe in yours.
The change we need doesn’t come from Washington; it comes to Washington.
If you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter what you look like. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman. What matters is your dedication to the job.
We may come from different places and have different stories, but we share common hopes, and one very American dream.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come.
In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.
The strongest democracies are those that allow all voices to be heard and represented. And by that measure, American democracy is strong and healthy.
Our diversity is not our problem – it is our promise.
The audacity of hope is not just a phrase, it is a faith that we can heal this nation.
To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists.
We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.
Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality, belief in opportunity, and the belief that together we can build a better future for our children and grandchildren.
I think one of the things that we all agree to is that the touchstone for economic policy is people’s jobs.
We have moved forward, and some of the things that we have discovered, Robert, forgive me, some of the things we discovered, Congress has not wanted to move forward on.
Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.
We all have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to shape the debates of our generation. We can disagree without being disagreeable.
We’ve done things that some folks don’t even know we’ve done.
One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it can change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world.
We are defined not by our borders, but by our bonds.
When we’ve faced down impossible odds, when we’ve been told that we’re not ready or that we shouldn’t try or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
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