Inspiration, Motivation, People

65 Powerful Quotes by Barack Obama

Famous Barack Obama Quotes

Barack Obama is the present President of United States as well as the first African American to serve as the U.S. President. In 2012, he won the presidency for the second term; he was first elected in 2008. Here are some of the popular quotes by Barack Obama.

  1. “Our destiny is not written for us, but by us.” - Barack Obama
  2. “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.” - Barack Obama
  3. “Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.” - Barack Obama
  4. “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.” - Barack Obama
  5. “One of the things I think I can bring to the presidency is to make government and public service cool again.” - Barack Obama
  6. “Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.” - Barack Obama
  7. “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.’” - Barack Obama
  8. “I decided to become a community organizer … Change won’t come from the top, I would say. Change will come from a mobilized grass roots.” - Barack Obama
  9. “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” - Barack Obama
  10. “This is our first task—caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.” - Barack Obama
  11. “After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land.” - Barack Obama
  12. “The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.” - Barack Obama
  13. “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.” - Barack Obama
  14. “The absence of hope can rot a society from within.” - Barack Obama
  15. “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.” - Barack Obama
  16. “I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you.” - Barack Obama
  17. “We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it’s easy, but when it is hard.” - Barack Obama
  18. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” - Barack Obama
  19. “It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” - Barack Obama
  20. “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America. - Barack Obama
  21. “Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict.” - Barack Obama
  22. “My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into another’s heart, cannot penetrate the blank stares of those who would murder innocents with abstract, serene satisfaction.” - Barack Obama
  23. “Cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom.” - Barack Obama
  24. “The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.” - Barack Obama
  25. “When our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.” - Barack Obama
  26. “Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.” - Barack Obama
  27. “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something.” - Barack Obama
  28. “In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.” - Barack Obama
  29. “Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where up end up.” - Barack Obama
  30. “Through words he gave voice to the voiceless. Through deeds he gave courage to the faint of heart.” - Barack Obama
  31. “I feel good when I’m engaged in what I think are the core issues of the society, and those core issues to me are what’s happening to poor folks in this society.” - Barack Obama
  32. “That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.” - Barack Obama
  33. “We have a choice. We can shape our future, or let events shape it for us. And if we want to succeed, we can’t fall back on the stale debates and old divides that won’t move us forward.” - Barack Obama
  34. “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.” - Barack Obama
  35. “I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there’s nothing weak — nothing passive — nothing naïve — in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.” - Barack Obama
  36. “The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.” - Barack Obama
  37. “Don’t shortchange the future, because of fear in the present.” - Barack Obama
  38. “Greatness is never a given. It must be earned.” - Barack Obama
  39. “The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact.” - Barack Obama
  40. “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.” - Barack Obama
  41. “Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.” - Barack Obama
  42. “Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” - Barack Obama
  43. “When we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.” - Barack Obama
  44. “Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.” - Barack Obama
  45. “As much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.” - Barack Obama
  46. “That is the true genius of America—a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles.” - Barack Obama
  47. “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.” - Barack Obama
  48. “We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.” - Barack Obama
  49. “I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.” - Barack Obama
  50. “No development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work.” - Barack Obama
  51. “People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, and the heart, and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive.” - Barack Obama
  52. “While the future is unknowable, the winds always blow in the direction of human progress.” - Barack Obama
  53. “Tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11.” - Barack Obama
  54. “If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.” - Barack Obama
  55. “Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty.” - Barack Obama
  56. “I’ve been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I’ve spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need.” - Barack Obama
  57. “The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That’s why NATO continues to be indispensable.” - Barack Obama
  58. “We want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize that it’s not just my way or the highway.” - Barack Obama
  59. “In the midst of economic recovery and global upheaval, disasters like this remind us of the common humanity that we share.” - Barack Obama
  60. “Throughout American history, there have been moments that call on us to meet the challenges of an uncertain world, and pay whatever price is required to secure our freedom.” - Barack Obama
  61. “Societies held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time, but they are built upon fault lines that will eventually tear asunder.” - Barack Obama
  62. “There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times.” - Barack Obama
  63. “All of us — we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.” - Barack Obama
  64. “It’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.” - Barack Obama
  65. “We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.” - Barack Obama

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