Quotessence
Home / Authors / Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Barack Obama Quotes

44th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleThinkingIfsAmericaWorldCountryStatesPresidentKnowsWantUnitedWayUnited StatesYearsNationsBelieveShouldEconomyNeedsHas Beens

Famous Barack Obama Quotes

“What I'm thinking about are the millions of people, many of whom write me very personal letters :"Dear Mr. President: I did not vote for you. I was against Obamacare. And then my son who didn't have health insurance signed up and we just found out that he had an illness. And thankfully he's now covered, otherwise he might not have gotten treatment and I might have lost my house."”

PeopleThinkingWritingMightFoundHouseLostPresidentMillionsSonLettersVoteDearIllnessTreatmentMy SonCoveredObamacare
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“One of the things that I've learned, and I think we've all learned, is that we are not going to get the kind of decisive, permanent victories in this fight against terrorism that we would get from fighting another country. We're not going to get that MacArthur/Emperor moment, because by definition, even after decimating Al Qaeda in the Fata, even after taking out [Osama] bin Laden there's still people there who have both the interest and the capacity if we don't maintain vigilance to strike against the United States.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKindStillsCountryStatesMomentsFightingInterestUnitedUnited StatesVictoryCapacityDefinitionsTerrorismStrikesPermanentI've LearnedAlsEmperorBin LadenAl QaedaOsama Bin LadenVigilanceMacarthur
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I started as a community organizer. Every one of my campaigns was premised on getting new people involved. And if there's a theme in my public career it's that if ordinary people get involved then good things happen. So I want to see the Democratic Party move in that direction. And what that means is that we aren't just micro-targeting to eke out presidential victories; it means that we're showing up in places where right now we're not winning a lot.”

PeopleIfsWantMeanHappensMovingWinningCommunityPartyCareersVictoryInvolvedRight NowOrdinaryGood ThingsDemocraticCampaignsThings HappenPresidentialThemeOrdinary PeopleGet InvolvedDemocratic PartyShowing UpOrganizer
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“When you look at what [new generation] believe in, how they value diversity, how they believe in science, how they care about the environment, how they believe in, you know, everybody getting a fair shot, how they believe in not discriminating against people for sexual orientation and you know, their belief that we have to work with other countries to create a more peaceful world and to alleviate poverty, that's the majority an entire generation that's coming up behind us.”

PeopleKnowsWorldBelieveLooksCountryCareValuesBeliefBehindsPovertyEnvironmentGenerationsDiversityShotsFairsMajorityPeacefulOther CountriesBelieve In YouOrientationNew GenerationAlleviatePeaceful World
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“What I remember thinking at that point, having gone through both the ups and downs of my first four years, and seeing the sea of people was, "What a remarkable country this is and how lucky am I that we live in a place where the son of a single mom, not born into any kind of fame or fortune, in a pretty remote state somehow can end up be in a position to - to make a difference."”

PeopleThinkingYearsFirstsKindEndsCountryStatesRememberBornDifferencesGoneFourSeeingSeaPositionSonMomFameLuckyFortuneMaking A DifferenceRemarkableFour YearsUps & DownsSingle Mom
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I was raised by a single mom who had to put herself through school while looking after two kids. And she worked hard every day and made a lot of sacrifices to make sure we got everything we needed. My grandmother, she started off as a secretary in a bank. She never got a college education, even though she was smart as a whip. And she worked her way up to become a vice president of a local bank, but she hit the glass ceiling. She trained people who would end up becoming her bosses during the course of her career.”

PeopleWayMadeTwoEndsHardKidsSchoolCoursesPresidentCareersSacrificeCollegeMomBecomingNeededSmartRaisedGlassesVicesLocalsGrandmotherBossSecretaryMy GrandmotherCeilingsWhipsVice PresidentSingle MomCollege EducationGlass Ceiling
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“For too many of us, it's become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or on college campuses, or places of worship or especially our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it's true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there.”

PeoplePoliticalChallengesAcceptingOpinionShareCollegeFitWorshipEvidenceSocial MediaAssumptionNeighborhoodBubbles
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“America, we weaken our ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character aren't even willing to enter into public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are seen not just as misguided but as malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others, when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.”

PeopleWritingCharacterPoliticalLeaderBlameDialogueDisagreePublic ServiceGood Character
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“We are unique among advanced countries that we don't have universal health care. My hope was that I was able to get a hundred percent of people health care while I was president. We didn't quite achieve that, but we were able to get 20 million people health care who didn't have it before. And obviously some of the progress we made is now imperiled because there's still a significant debate taking place in the United States. For those 20 million people, their lives have been better.”

PeopleCountryCarePresidentProgressAchieveUniqueDebateSignificantHealth CareUniversal Health Care
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“We have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith. Professed to stand up for Islam, but in fact are betraying it. Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”

PeopleThinkingRememberHumanityChristViolenceTerribleUniqueHorseIslamTerrorCommittedBetray
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“My goal is to maintain the international norm on banning chemical weapons. I want that enforcement to be real. I want it to be serious. I want people to understand that gassing innocent people, delivering chemical weapons against children is not something we do. It's prohibited in active wars between countries. We certainly don't do it against kids. And we've got to stand up for that principle.”

PeopleChildrenWarRealCountryKidsGoalSeriousInnocentBeing RealNorm
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“In order to make the tough decisions we have to know what our values are and who we're fighting for and our priorities and if we are spending $300 billion on tax cuts for people who don't need them and weren't even asking for them, and we are leaving out health care which is crushing on people all across the country, then I think we have made a bad decision and I want to make sure we're not shortchanging our long term priorities.”

PeopleThinkingLongCountryCareValuesFightingTermDecisionCuttingTaxesToughLeavingPrioritiesHealth CareLong TermCrushBad DecisionTough Decisions
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“The ideals and the values of the United States inspired the entire world. I don't think any of us can say that our standing in the world now, the way children around the world look at the United States, is the same. And part of what we need to do is to send a message to the world that we are going to invest in issues like education, we are going to invest in issues that relate to how ordinary people are able to live out their dreams. And that is something that I'm going to be committed to as president of the United States.”

PeopleThinkingWorldChildrenDreamValuesPresidentInspiredCommittedOrdinary People
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Donald Trump will be the next president, the 45th president of the United States. And it will be up to him to set up a team that he thinks will serve him well and reflect his policies. It takes a while for people to reconcile themselves with that new reality. Hopefully, it`s a reminder that elections matter. I think it`s important for us to let him make his decisions, and I think the American people will judge over the course of the next couple of years whether they like what they see.”

PeopleThinkingImportantRealityPresidentDecisionTeamPolicyJudgingCoupleElectionHopefullyReconcile
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. But if you look at the track record America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.”

PeopleThinkingWorldChildrenImportantSometimesReasonMistakeEnemyExtraordinaryTrackCommunicateMaking MistakesPartnershipOrdinary PeopleBetter Life
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization. Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past - none of these things have been helpful.”

PeoplePastSupportThreatProsperityTerroristHelpfulNuclear WeaponsGreat PeopleIranianPersian
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“We can't, you know, use our military to make sure the planet doesn't get warmer. And so that kind of leadership, of being able to bring people together, to apply practical commonsense solutions based on facts, based on science, based on what works you know, that's been the approach I have taken consistently as a public servant. That's the kind of style that I think we need in the presidency right now.”

PeopleThinkingKindTogetherTakenMilitaryStyleSolutionsServantConsistently
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“One of the thing about being President - that can't be taught, you have to experience, is - there is the sheer weight of decision making. And when I make a decision to send 17,000 young Americans to Afghanistan - you can understand that intellectually. But understanding what that means for those families, for those young people - when you end up sitting at your desk, signing - a condolence letter to one of the family members of a fallen hero - you're reminded each and every day, at every moment, that - the decisions you make count.”

PeopleMeanMomentsUnderstandingPresidentDecisionHeroFallenDecision MakingAfghanistanCondolences
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“When you've got a economy in which 40 percent of economic growth is happening in the financial sector, that turns out that was all an illusion, that it wasn't growth based on real products and services, but just a bunch of paper shuffling and a house of cards, then what's gonna emerge, at some point, is a sense of resentment, a sense that the system's rigged, and it's not working for ordinary people. And it's not fulfilling the basic American dream.”

PeopleRealDreamHouseGrowthEconomyEconomicIllusionFinancialResentmentAmerican DreamFulfillingOrdinary PeopleEconomic Growth
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“The American people are not expecting miracles. I think if you talk to the average person right now that they would say, 'Well, look, you know well, we're having a tough time right now. We've had tough times before.' 'And you know, we don't expect a new president can snap his fingers and suddenly everything is gonna be okay. But what we do expect is that the guy is gonna be straight with us. We do expect that he's gonna be working really hard for us.'”

PeopleThinkingGuyPresidentToughOkayMiracleExpectingTough Times
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“The government of Libya announced the death of Moammar Gadhafi. 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. The Gadhafi regime ruled the Libyan people with an iron fist. The enormous potential of the Libyan people was held back and terror was used as a political weapon. The last major regime strongholds have fallen. The new government is consolidating the control over the country. And one of the world's longest-serving dictators is no more.”

PeopleLongCountryPoliticalOpportunityDestinyDemocraticDeterminePainfulTerrorFallenDictator
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Faced with the potential of mass atrocities and a call for help from the Libyan people, the United States and our friends and allies stopped Gadhafi's forces in their tracks. A coalition that included the United States, NATO and Arab nations persevered to protect Libyan civilians. So this is a momentous day in the history of Libya. The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted, and with this enormous promise the Libyan people now have a great responsibility: to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Gadhafi's dictatorship.”

PeopleHelpingDarkResponsibilityPromiseProtectShadowUltimateDemocraticTrackTyrannyDictatorshipNatoGreat Responsibility
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Our job as Americans is to restore that basic bargain that says, if you work hard, if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead. You can get ahead. Doesn't matter what you look like, doesn't matter where you come from. Our middle class, when it's growing, when it's thriving, when there are ladders of opportunity for people to do a little bit better each year and then make sure that their kids are doing even better than them, that's the American dream. That's what we got to fight for. That has to be the north star that guides everything we do.”

PeopleDreamKidsFightingOpportunityResponsibilityHard WorkMiddle ClassAmerican Dream
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“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.”

PeopleIfsInspirationalPersonsMotivationalTimeWaitingBlackPresidentChangeCommunityInspiringUnited StatesSuccessfulChangedPoliticianSeekingAfrican AmericanPresidentialLife ChangingChanging The WorldTransitionAmerican DreamSuccessful PeopleAmerican HistoryWorld HistoryChanging Your LifeMaking ChangesBlack HistorySuccessful BusinessChange For The BetterAmerican PresidentBlack History MonthAfrican American WomenDon't Waste Your TimeUs PresidentBlack PersonPresidents DayInspirational ChangeBlack History Month InspirationalLife Has ChangedTime For A ChangeBlack AmericaAfrican American HistoryTimes Have ChangedPeople ChangingTime And ChangeBlack History InspirationalOne Person Can Make A DifferenceYes We CanMotivation And ChangeUs PresidentialInspirational PresidentialAfrican American InspirationalInspiring PresidentialAfrican American History MonthBlack InspirationalInspiring ChangeWilling To WaitChanges In SocietyPresidential LeadershipAudacity Of HopeTimes Are ChangingWhy ChangeChanged Person
Book:An American Story: The Speeches of Barack Obama : a Primer
Create image

“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.”

PeopleWantInspirationalNeedsShouldTryingHardRealizingWorkPovertyClearNiceCarHard WorkAmbitionClothesAccomplishLuxuryFancyApartmentSteersFull PotentialLife StrugglePersonal LeadershipNice ClothesFancy Cars
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“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.”

PeopleWantKindChristianSpiritualMotherJesusTermChristChurchFamilyWeekJesus ChristMy FamilyRaisesFolksSpokesChristian FaithLater In Life
Author:Barack Obama
Create image