Barack Obama Quotes

So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.

In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.

Our combat mission is ending, but our commitment to Iraq's future is not.

The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our view of our past.

We are the change we have been waiting for.

I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walks.

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.

In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

As I've said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hopes for Iraqis' future.

But do I think that our actions in anyway violate the War Powers Resolution, the answer is no.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy.

We may not be able to stop evil in the world, but how we treat one another is entirely up to us.

Like any value, empathy must be acted upon.

To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

Our individualism has always been bound by a set of communal values, the glue upon which every healthy society depends.

But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost.

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money.

What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal - that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.

Our values call upon us to care about people we'll never meet.

I've got daughters. Nine years old and six years old. First of all, I'm gonna teach them about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them PUNISHED with a baby.

None of These Will Come Easy.

I don't think marriage is a civil right, but I think that being able to transfer property is a civil right.

Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing.

What's missing is not money, but a national sense of urgency.

That's the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

it’s important to make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

Food Stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis recklessness on Wall Street did.

The most important thing you need to do [in this job] is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking.

Someone once said that every man is trying to live up to his father's expectations or make up for their father's mistakes....

We will outstretch the hand if you unclench your fist.

At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better.

More than anything, it is that sense - that despite great differences in wealth, we rise and fall together - that we can't afford to lose.

A nation that can't control its energy sources can't control its future.

Rather than evoke our sympathy, our familiarity with the lives of the black poor has bred spasms of fear and outright contempt. But mostly it's bred indifference.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?

All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

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.

As president, I'm committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

Over the last fifteen months we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been to fifty-seven states. I think, one left to go.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that, in our democracy, government is us.

It [is] that courage that Africa most desperately needs.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

So, let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look over not only ourselves, but each other.

My liberty depends on you being free, too.

My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there. At least that's what I would choose to believe.