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You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us - the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you think like this - when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers - it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Aug. 11, 2006
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 12, 2006
When people are judged by merit, not connections, then the best and brightest can lead the country, people will work hard, and the entire economy will grow - everyone will benefit and more resources will be available for all, not just select groups.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Aug. 28, 2006
Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 28, 2006
Yes, our greatness as a nation has depended on individual initiative, on a belief in the free market. But it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, of mutual responsibility. The idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. Americans know this. We know that government can't solve all our problems - and we don't want it to. But we also know that there are some things we can't do on our own. We know that there are some things we do better together.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Aug. 7, 2006
Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 12, 2006
If we aren't willing to pay a price for our values, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.
BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope
The country is not as polarized as our politics would suggest.
BARACK OBAMA, interview, Oct. 27, 2006
The evangelists' success points to a hunger for the product they are selling, a hunger that goes beyond any particular issue or cause. They need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them.
BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope
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, Daily Southtown, Feb. 19, 2005
I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manfuacturer's lobby. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone disrespected him, we have a problem of morality. Not only do we need to punish that man for his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there's a hole in his heart, one that government programs alone may not be able to repair.
BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope
In a country of 300 million people, there is a certain degree of audacity required for anybody to say, "I'm the best person to lead this country."
BARACK OBAMA, Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2006
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. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential.
BARACK OBAMA, speech at 2004 Democratic Convention
When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.
BARACK OBAMA, speech at 2004 Democratic Convention
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, The New Yorker, May 31, 2004
With the changing economy, no one has lifetime employment. But community colleges provide lifetime employability.
BARACK OBAMA, Daily Southtown, Feb. 19, 2005
People are whupped. I'm whupped. My wife is whupped. Unless it's your job to be curious, who really has the time to sit and ask questions and explore issues?
BARACK OBAMA, The New Yorker, May 31, 2004
I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator.
BARACK OBAMA, Time Magazine, Jun. 26, 2005
If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.
BARACK OBAMA, Bloomington Pantagraph, Feb. 25, 2005
There seems to be an alternative reality out there, from some of the political folks, that America's down in the dumps. It's not. America is pretty darn great right now.
BARACK OBAMA, "Obama touts job numbers: America is 'pretty darn great'", The Hill, March 4, 2016
We memorialize our first patriots--blacksmiths and farmers, slaves and freedmen--who never knew the independence they won with their lives. We memorialize the armies of men, and women disguised as men, black and white, who fell in apple orchards and cornfields in a war that saved our union. We memorialize those who gave their lives on the battlefields of our times--from Normandy to Manila, Inchon to Khe Sanh, Baghdad to Helmand, and in jungles, deserts, and city streets around the world.
BARACK OBAMA, remarks by the President at a Memorial Day service, May 30, 2011
We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.
BARACK OBAMA, Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 2013
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
BARACK OBAMA, The New Yorker, May 31, 2004
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