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Barack Obama

1,038 quotes

“Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep — but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and do more to encourage fatherhood — because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to conceive a child; it’s having the courage to raise one.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. It is this kind of prosperity — broad, shared, built on a thriving middle class — that has always been the source of our progress at home. It’s also the foundation of our power and influence throughout the world.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the same time, we’ll engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands — because our ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead and meet our obligations.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be. But it requires your dedicated, informed, and engaged citizenship. This citizenship is a harder, higher road to take. But it leads to a better place. It is how we built this country – together. It is the question President Kennedy posed to the nation at his inauguration; the dream that Dr. King invoked. It does not promise easy success or immediate progress. But it has led to success, and it has led to progress. That brings me to the second thing I ask of you – I ask you to persevere.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But the fact that we can stand here today, along the fault line where a city was divided, speaks to an eternal truth: No wall can stand against the yearning of justice, the yearnings for freedom, the yearnings for peace that burns in the human heart.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today, 60 years after they rose up against oppression, we remember the East German heroes of June 17th. When the wall finally came down, it was their dreams that were fulfilled. Their strength and their passion, their enduring example remind us that for all the power of militaries, for all the authority of governments, it is citizens who choose whether to be defined by a wall, or whether to tear it down.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But I come here today, Berlin, to say complacency is not the character of great nations.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’d suggest that peace with justice begins with the example we set here at home, for we know from our own histories that intolerance breeds injustice. Whether it’s based on race, or religion, gender or sexual orientation, we are stronger when all our people — no matter who they are or what they look like — are granted opportunity, and when our wives and our daughters have the same opportunities as our husbands and our sons.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peace with justice means free enterprise that unleashes the talents and creativity that reside in each of us; in other models, direct economic growth from the top down or relies solely on the resources extracted from the earth. But we believe that real prosperity comes from our most precious resource -- our people.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peace with justice means extending a hand to those who reach for freedom, wherever they live. Different peoples and cultures will follow their own path, but we must reject the lie that those who live in distant places don’t yearn for freedom and self-determination just like we do; that they don’t somehow yearn for dignity and rule of law just like we do. We cannot dictate the pace of change in places like the Arab world, but we must reject the excuse that we can do nothing to support it.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our fates are linked, and we cannot ignore those who are yearning not only for freedom but also prosperity.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And finally, let’s remember that peace with justice depends on our ability to sustain both the security of our societies and the openness that defines them. Threats to freedom don’t merely come from the outside. They can emerge from within -- from our own fears, from the disengagement of our citizens.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But we must accept the challenge that all of us in democratic governments face: to listen to the voices who disagree with us; to have an open debate about how we use our powers and how we must constrain them; and to always remember that government exists to serve the power of the individual, and not the other way around. That’s what makes us who we are, and that’s what makes us different from those on the other side of the wall.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that none of us are fully free when others in the human family remain shackled by poverty or disease or oppression.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We believe that societies and economies only advance as far as individuals are free to carry them forward. And just as freedom cannot exist when people are imprisoned for their political views, true opportunity cannot exist when people are imprisoned by sickness, or hunger, or darkness.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But history tells us that true progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people, and not the other way around.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, I mentioned yesterday at the town hall -- like America’s first President, George Washington, he understood that democracy can only endure when it’s bigger than just one person. So his willingness to leave power was as profound as his ability to claim power.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And that’s why we support societies that empower women -- because no country will reach its potential unless it draws on the talents of our wives and our mothers, and our sisters and our daughters.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We always have the opportunity to choose our better history. We can always understand that most important decision -- the decision we make when we find our common humanity in one another. That’s always available to us, that choice. [...] it can be heard in the confident voices of young people like you. It is that spirit, that innate longing for justice and equality, for freedom and solidarity -- that’s the spirit that can light the way forward. It's in you.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And then, on a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation’s capital, under the shadow of the Great Emancipator -- to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, and to awaken America’s long-slumbering conscience. We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the battlefield of justice, men and women without rank or wealth or title or fame would liberate us all in ways that our children now take for granted, as people of all colors and creeds live together and learn together and walk together, and fight alongside one another, and love one another, and judge one another by the content of our character in this greatest nation on Earth.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The test was not, and never has been, whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few. It was whether our economic system provides a fair shot for the many -- for the black custodian and the white steelworker, the immigrant dishwasher and the Native American veteran. To win that battle, to answer that call -- this remains our great unfinished business.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can continue down our current path, in which the gears of this great democracy grind to a halt and our children accept a life of lower expectations; where politics is a zero-sum game where a few do very well while struggling families of every race fight over a shrinking economic pie -- that’s one path. Or we can have the courage to change.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“America, I know the road will be long, but I know we can get there. Yes, we will stumble, but I know we’ll get back up. That’s how a movement happens. That’s how history bends. That's how when somebody is faint of heart, somebody else brings them along and says, come on, we’re marching.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And your work reflects a tradition that runs through our history -- a belief that we’re greater together than we are on our own. And that’s what I’ve come here to talk about today.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, the premise that we’re all created equal is the opening line in the American story. And while we don’t promise equal outcomes, we have strived to deliver equal opportunity -- the idea that success doesn’t depend on being born into wealth or privilege, it depends on effort and merit. And with every chapter we’ve added to that story, we’ve worked hard to put those words into practice.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And finally, rising inequality and declining mobility are bad for our democracy. Ordinary folks can’t write massive campaign checks or hire high-priced lobbyists and lawyers to secure policies that tilt the playing field in their favor at everyone else’s expense. And so people get the bad taste that the system is rigged, and that increases cynicism and polarization, and it decreases the political participation that is a requisite part of our system of self-government.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was Adam Smith, the father of free-market economics, who once said, “They who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged.” And for those of you who don’t speak old-English let me translate. It means if you work hard, you should make a decent living. If you work hard, you should be able to support a family.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough. No matter how right, they must be chiseled into law and institutions.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The questions we face today -- how to promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to end conflict and sectarian war -- these things do not have easy answers. But there were no easy answers in front of that child born in World War I. Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done. South Africa shows that is true. South Africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences, but by our common hopes. We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by peace and justice and opportunity.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I've got a pen, and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: January 14, 2014
“For the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, they're going to have to make some choices. And they might end up having to switch doctors, in part because they're saving money.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with WebMD (14 March 2014)
“And so this visit, this hallowed ground, reminds us that we must never, ever take our progress for granted. We must commit perennially to peace, which binds us across oceans.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at Flanders Field Cemetery in Waregem, Belgium on March 26, 2014.
“And if there is one thing that he and this year’s anniversary should teach us, if there’s one lesson I hope that Malia and Sasha and young people everywhere learn from this day, it’s that with enough effort, and enough empathy, and enough perseverance, and enough courage, people who love their country can change it.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by the President at LBJ Presidential Library Civil Rights Summit at Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas on April 10, 2014.
“What makes us Americans is something more than just the circumstances of birth, what we look like, what God we worship, but rather it is a joyful spirit of citizenship. Citizenship demands participation and responsibility, and service to our country and to one another. And few embody that more than our men and women in uniform.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by President Obama at Naturalization Ceremony for Servicemembers at The War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, Republic of Korea at April 25, 2014
“Freedom is not an accident. Progress is not an accident. Democracy is not an accident. These are things that have to be fought for. You’re part of that legacy. They must be won. And they’ve got to be tended to constantly and defended without fail.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by President Obama to U.S. Troops and Personnel at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul, Republic of Korea at April 26, 2014
“There is no greater nobility than offering one’s life to the nation and, Mr. President, your father offered his life so that this nation might be free.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by President Obama and President Aquino III of the Philippines during a State Dinner at Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines on April 28, 2014
“We have to do our best to uphold in our own lives the values that they were prepared to die for. We have to honor those who carry forward that legacy, recognizing that people cannot live in freedom unless free people are prepared to die for it.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by President Obama at the 70th Anniversary of D-Day at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France at June 6, 2014
“You can’t contain an organization that is running roughshod through that much territory, causing that much havoc, displacing that many people, killing that many innocents, enslaving that many women. The goal has to be to dismantle them.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When Obama was asked what's needed to really destroy ISIL, not just push back - NATO Summit Press Conference (9 September 2014)
“I am a firm believer that any legitimate government has to be based on rule of law and a recognition that all people are equal under the law.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by President Obama and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma in Joint Press Conference at Aung San Suu Kyi Residence in Rangoon, Burma on November 14, 2014
“There have been periods where the folks who were already here suddenly say, 'Well, I don't want those folks,' even though the only people who have the right to say that are some Native Americans.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks by the President on Immigration -- Chicago, IL (November 25, 2014)
“[T]he combination of increased digital information and powerful supercomputers offers intelligence agencies the possibility of sifting through massive amounts of bulk data to identify patterns or pursue leads that may thwart impending threats. It’s a powerful tool. But the government collection and storage of such bulk data also creates a potential for abuse.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As the nation that developed the Internet, the world expects us to ensure that the digital revolution works as a tool for individual empowerment, not government control. Having faced down the dangers of totalitarianism and fascism and communism, the world expects us to stand up for the principle that every person has the right to think and write and form relationships freely -- because individual freedom is the wellspring of human progress.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those values make us who we are. And because of the strength of our own democracy, we should not shy away from high expectations. For more than two centuries, our Constitution has weathered every type of change because we have been willing to defend it, and because we have been willing to question the actions that have been taken in its defense. Today is no different. I believe we can meet high expectations. Together, let us chart a way forward that secures the life of our nation while preserving the liberties that make our nation worth fighting for.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tonight this chamber speaks with one voice to the people we represent: It is you, our citizens, who make the state of our union strong.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And in the coming months, let's see where else we can make progress together. Let's make this a year of action. That's what most Americans want, for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations. And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all, the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead in America.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The point is, there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source