Quotes by Barack Obama

When you fall, the real test is whether you can ignore the naysayers, pick yourself up and come back stronger.

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.

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

To Michelle - my love and life's partner and Malia and Sasha - whose dazzling light makes everything brighter.

These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.

As tragic as these past few weeks have been, they offer an opportunity for us to all work together to tackle them, to take them on, to change America and make it live up to its highest ideals.

More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing.

I'm so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States.

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

People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - it's the courage to raise one.

Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

I grew up in Hawaii. My love of the natural world began here.

Coming back - even if I have to wear a tie, which I very rarely do these days - gives me a chance to visit with some of the incredible people who serve the White House.

Congratulations to my friends, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris - our next President and Vice President of the United States.

I never thought Donald Trump would embrace my vision or continue my policies but I did hope for the sake of the country that he might show some interest in taking the job seriously, but it hasn’t happened.

There are certain sports figures who become a larger cultural force. Michael Jordan and the Bulls changed the culture.

If women ran every country in the world there would be a general improvement in living standards and outcomes.

I have always been proud to have been born in Hawaii.

The United Kingdom is at its best, when it's helping to lead a strong Europe.

More companies are moving to new stronger technologies to authenticate user identities, like biometrics. Because it's just too easy for hackers to figure out usernames and passwords, like "password" or 12345... 7. Those are some of my previous passwords. I've changed them since then.

There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly. And in order for us to deal with that effectively, we have to put in place an infrastructure that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly.

There's a natural connection between me and DreamWorks. I don't know if you know this, but my ears were one of the inspirations for Shrek.

Leno: "What's this thing with Trump and you? I don't get it, it's like me and Letterman - what has he got against you?"
Obama: "This all dates back to when we were growing up together in Kenya. We had constant run-ins on the soccer field."

I am told that the last three speakers here [Westminster Hall] have been the Pope, her Majesty the Queen and Nelson Mandela. Which is either a very high bar or the beginning of a very funny joke.

If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

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.

BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region.

Dear Mr. President -

Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.

This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don't know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful. Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.

First, we've both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune. Not everyone is so lucky. It's up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that's willing to work hard.

Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It's up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that's expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.

Third, we are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions -- like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties -- that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it's up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.

And finally, take time, in the rush of events and responsibilities, for friends and family. They'll get you through the inevitable rough patches.

Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can. Good luck and Godspeed, BO

What we’ve said to the girls is, ‘If you guys ever decided you're going to get a tattoo, then mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo in the same place. And we'll go on YouTube and show it off as a family tattoo.

Zach Galifianakis: "What is it like to be the last black president?"
Barack Obama: "Seriously? What's it like for this to be the last time, you'll ever talk to a president?"

From a child of the East to the leader of a free and united Germany. As I've said, Angela [Merkel] and I don't exactly look like previous German and American leaders. But the fact that we can stand here today, along the front-line where this city was divided, speaks to an eternal truth.

So congratulations, again, to the Miami Heat. And now we are going to take a picture that makes me look very short.

A few of them were here a couple of years ago for a pickup game on my birthday. Now, I’m not trying to take all the credit, Coach, but I think that it’s clear that going up against me prepared them to take on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It sharpened their skills. It gave them the competitive edge that they needed. And I think part of the reason they came back today is they want another shot at the old guy.

We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it - so long as we seize it together.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free.

For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.

Elmo, you better make a run for it, Governor Romney is going to let Wall Street run wild again, but he's going to bring the hammer down on Sesame Street.

We believe that a little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could become the next Steve Jobs.

What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.

Think about the America within our reach:
A country that leads the world in educating its people.
An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs.
A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world.
An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.

We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks

Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended.

For the region, today's events prove once more, that the rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end.

This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya, who now have the opportunity, to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya.

And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.

The world has lost a visionary.