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

“I think that Donald Trump successfully mobilized a big chunk of America to vote for him and he's going to win. He has won. He's going to be the next president and regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office, this office has a way of waking you up and those - those aspects of his positions or predispositions that don't match up with reality, he will find shaken up pretty quick because reality has a way of asserting itself.”

ThinkingWayBigsRealityAmericaNextWinningPresidentPositionTrumpOfficeAspectVoteAssumptionWakingChunks
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I think when you're governing, it will become increasingly apparent that if you were to just eliminate trade deals with Mexico, for example, well, you've got a global supply chain. The parts that are allowing auto plants that were about to shut down to now employ double shifts is because they're bringing in some of those parts to assemble out of Mexico. And so it's not as simple as it might have seemed.”

IfsThinkingWellsMightSimpleDealsExampleTradePlantChainsAllowingMexicoGoverningSupply Chain
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“This is where I think policies do need to be somewhat race-specific, is making sure that institutions are not discriminatory. So you've got something like the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], which was on its face a universal program that involved a huge mechanism for wealth accumulation and people entering into the middle class.”

PeopleThinkingNeedsFacesWealthRaceClassMiddlePolicyHugeInvolvedProgramUniversalInstitutionsAdministrationMiddle ClassMechanismEnteringHousingAccumulation
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I think if you worked at the community level in Chicago and then a politician on the South Side of Chicago, and worked at the state level, then you're pretty familiar with all the variations of politics in the African American community and criticisms you may get. If you're not familiar with those or you don't have a thick enough skin to take it, then you probably wouldn't have gotten here.”

IfsThinkingMayStatesEnoughSidesCommunityLevelsPoliticianCriticismSkinsSouthFamiliarAfrican AmericanChicagoThickVariationYou Re Pretty
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“When we were working on immigration reform and there was a young Latino man, young immigration activist here who, in the Roosevelt Room, refused to shake my hand.He made a point of saying, "I can't shake your hand; you're deporting too many people." And I just said to him, "Young man, I'm glad that you feel so passionately about this issue, but you're with the president right now in the White House. You've got to think about what's going to be most effective in getting what you need, what you're trying to accomplish. Because this may not be your best strategy."”

PeopleThinkingMenNeedsFeelsTryingMayMadeSaidI CanHandsYoungHousePresidentWhiteRoomsIssuesRight NowStrategyAccomplishGladImmigrationReformYoung ManShakesWhite HouseActivistLatinoImmigration ReformBe Your Best
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I say that is because those are the times where sometimes you feel actually a little bit hurt. Because you feel like saying to these folks, "[Don't] you think if I could do it, I [would] have just done it. Do you think that the only problem is that I don't care enough about the plight of poor people, or gay people, or immigrants, or ...?"”

PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsLittlesSometimesDoneEnoughProblemCareBitsHurtPoorGayLittle BitFolksDon't CareI Don't CareIf I CouldImmigrantsIt HurtsPoor PeopleGay PeoplePlight
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“You wouldn't know that if you talked to Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International or some of the international activist organizations. Certainly you wouldn't know that if you were talking to some of the writers who criticize our drone policy. But I've actually told my staff it's probably good that they stay critical of this policy, even though I think right now we're doing the best that we can in a dangerous world with terrorists who would gladly blow up a school bus full of American kids if they could.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWorldHumansKidsSchoolTalkingWatchesRightsDangerousPolicyRight NowOrganizationInternationalHuman RightsBlowCriticalTerroristCriticizeActivistBusStaffDronesAmnestyDangerous WorldSchool BusAmnesty International
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Rather take that moral sense and apply it to the particulars of a job that is going to test those ethical and moral precepts differently than if you're a professor, or a business person, or a dad. And if I were not comfortable with the judicious use of our military to protect the American people, than I shouldn't have run for president. And having said that, I do think that the wisdom of a [Martin Luther] King or a [Mahatma] Gandhi can inform my decisions.”

PeopleIfsThinkingPersonsSaidUseRunningJobsPresidentDecisionMoralMilitaryKingsDadProtectComfortableTestsEthicalProfessorsLutherBusiness Person
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I can think about what [Mahatma] Gandhi said or [Martin Luther] King said about violence begetting violence, and still be true to my job by asking myself the question whenever we're confronted with a situation where some may be arguing for military action: Will this actually result in America being safer, or the most lives being saved?”

ThinkingMaySaidStillsI CanActionJobsAmericaResultsSituationViolenceMilitaryKingsAskingArguingSavedBeing TrueLutherMilitary Action
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I have to be able to implement a policy that doesn't completely erase borders and boundaries. Not because I think that Honduran child who's gotten here is less worthy of love, attention, opportunity than my child, but because I'm the president of the United States of America and I'm not speaking as a religious leader.”

ThinkingChildrenStatesAbleAmericaOpportunityPresidentReligiousUnitedAttentionLeaderUnited StatesPolicyWorthyBoundariesMy ChildrenBordersUnited States Of AmericaEraseReligious LeadersWorthy Of Love
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“If we can’t puncture some of the mythology around austerity, politics or tax cuts or the mythology that’s been built up around the Reagan revolution, where somehow people genuinely think that he slashed government and slashed the deficit and that the recovery was because of all these massive tax cuts, as opposed to a shift in interest-rate policy - if we can’t describe that effectively, then we’re doomed to keep on making more and more mistakes.”

PeopleIfsThinkingGovernmentInterestMistakeCuttingPolicyRevolutionTaxesBuiltRateMythologyRecoveryMassiveDoomedDeficitTax CutsInterest RateAusterityPuncture
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“I think we have two conflicting traditions in this country. I think it's important for us to recognize that we've got a tradition of handgun ownership and gun ownership generally. And a lot of people - law-abiding citizens use if for hunting, for sportsmanship, and for protecting their families. We also have a violence on the streets that is the result of illegal handgun usage. And so I think there is nothing wrong with a community saying we are going to take those illegal handguns off the streets.”

PeopleIfsThinkingTwoImportantCountryUseLawCommunityResultsViolenceStreetsCitizensGunTraditionIllegalHuntingOwnershipAbidingUsageSportsmanshipHandgunsLaw Abiding CitizenGun Ownership
Author:Barack Obama
Create image