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Barack Obama Quotes
Enjoy this collection of Barack Obama quotes.
Barack Obama Quotes IndexCollection of Barack Obama Posters
Abortion
"No one is pro-abortion." "I've got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Adjusting to Public Life"I just miss - I miss being anonymous." "I just want to go through Central Park and watch folks passing by. Spend the whole day watching people. I miss that." "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." "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes America"Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation - not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago." "My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success." "We didn't become the most prosperous country in the world just by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn't come this far by letting the special interests run wild. We didn't do it just by gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street. We built this country by making things, by producing goods we could sell." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Americans"Americans... still believe in an America where anything's possible - they just don't think their leaders do."
"We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Budget / Deficit / Financial Matters"Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you feel the impact." "I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office." "Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference." "Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we've got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon." "We all knew this. We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis." "What do you think a stimulus is? It's spending - that's the whole point! Seriously." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Business"Contrary to the claims of some of my critics and some of the editorial pages, I am an ardent believer in the free market." "In the absence of sound oversight,responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system." "This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Campaign Promises"I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House." "It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." "My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington." "We need earmark reform, and when I'm President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Change"One voice can change a room
"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." "I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you're headed for a cliff, you have to change direction. That's what the American people called for in November, and that's what we intend to deliver." "Now we're in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change - we're doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change - inch by inch, day by day." "On every front there are clear answers out there that can make this country stronger, but we're going to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling. Our job is to make sure that even as we make progress, that we are also giving people a sense of hope and vision for the future." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Compromise"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.'" "We want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize that it's not just my way or the highway." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Education"Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career." "With the changing economy, no one has lifetime employment. But community colleges provide lifetime employability." "We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Environmental Issues"This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands." "When BP was not moving fast enough on claims, we told BP to set aside $20 billion in a fund - managed by an independent third party - to help all those whose lives have been turned upside down by the spill." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Fear"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared. And the country's scared." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Freedom"Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction." "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda. We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes
Gay / Lesbian"I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying." "I think what you're seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Government"What Washington needs is adult supervision." "It's time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes
Healthcare"We have now just enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their healthcare." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Jobs / Unemployment"With the changing economy, no one has lifetime employment. But community colleges provide lifetime employability." "What is a danger is that we stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high, people who have jobs see their incomes go up, businesses make big profits. But they're learned to do more with less, and so they don't hire." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Middle Class"I'm a warrior for the middle class." "It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label." "We can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Obama’s Accomplishments"And we have done more in the two and a half years that I've been in here than the previous 43 Presidents to uphold that principle, whether it's ending "don't ask, don't tell," making sure that gay and lesbian partners can visit each other in hospitals, making sure that federal benefits can be provided to same-sex couples." "My task over the last two years hasn't just been to stop the bleeding. My task has also been to try to figure out how do we address some of the structural problems in the economy that have prevented more Googles from being created." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Perseverance"Even when folks are hitting you over the head, you can't stop marching. Even when they're turning the hoses on you, you can't stop." "Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do." "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." "With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I'm going to press on for equality. I'm going to press on for the sake of our children. I'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I am going to press on." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Responsibility"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Spiritual BeliefsBut what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day. I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. "I'm a Christian by choice." "My family, frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn't raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead." "You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Success"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." "If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress." "We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential." "We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Taxes"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." "The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of the recession because that would just suck up and take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole." "I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class." "If we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, if we choose to keep a tax break for corporate jet owners, if we choose to keep tax breaks for oil and gas companies that are making hundreds of billions of dollars, then that means we've got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship." "In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can't afford it. And I refuse to renew them again." "In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them." "You will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Unity of the Nation"There is not a liberal America
"And I will do everything that I can as long as I am President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God, and we may call that God different names but we remain one nation." "One of the great strengths of the United States is... we have a very large Christian population - we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Values"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths."
Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes War / Military / National Security"I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war." "Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military." "The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam." "Where the stakes are the highest, in the war on terror, we cannot possibly succeed without extraordinary international cooperation. Effective international police actions require the highest degree of intelligence sharing, planning and collaborative enforcement." "We've persevered because of a belief we share with the Iraqi people - a belief that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization. Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it's time to turn the page." "We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be defeated." "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes Wealth"I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody." Return to Index of Barack Obama Quotes
Collection of Barack Obama Posters
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The Dash
It's not the date you were born, or the date you died, that really matters. It's "the dash" between those years and what you do with it, to make a difference with your life.
