Barack Obama Quotes On Change, Education, And Equality

Barack Obama is an American politician and served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama is a member of the Democratic Party.

Before becoming president, Obama was a prominent figure in American politics. He served as a United States Senator from Illinois from January 3, 2005, until his resignation on November 16, 2008, following his election as President. Prior to that, he was an Illinois State Senator from 1997 to 2004.

Obama’s presidency was marked by significant events, such as the passage of the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare), which aimed to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. He also implemented policies to address climate change, improve relations with Cuba, and promote marriage equality.

During his time in office, Obama faced various challenges, including dealing with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and managing conflicts in the Middle East, such as the rise of ISIS. He pursued a foreign policy focused on diplomacy and engagement with other nations.

Obama’s presidency was historic in many ways. He was the first African American to hold the office of the President of the United States, which represented a significant milestone in the country’s history.

Since leaving the White House, Barack Obama has remained active in public life and continues to advocate for issues such as healthcare, education, and criminal justice reform. He has also authored several books, including his memoir “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” As my knowledge is up until September 2021, I might not be aware of the latest developments or activities related to Barack Obama beyond that date.

Barack Obama Quotes

1. “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

2. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them.”
— Barack Obama

3. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”
— Barack Obama

4. “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

5. “We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.”
— Barack Obama

6. “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

7. “Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.”
— Barack Obama

8. “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.”
— Barack Obama

9. “There is probably a perverse pride in my administration…that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”
— Barack Obama

10. “I began feeling the way I imagine an actor or athlete must feel when, after years of commitment to a particular dream…he realizes that he’s gone just about as far as talent or fortune will take him. The dream will not happen, and he now faces the choice of accepting this fact like a grownup and moving on to more sensible pursuits, or refusing the truth and ending up bitter, quarrelsome, and slightly pathetic.”
— Barack Obama

11. “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.”
— Barack Obama

12. “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

13. “When we don’t pay close attention to the decisions made by our leaders, when we fail to educate ourselves about the major issues of the day, when we choose not to make our voices and opinions heard, that’s when democracy breaks down. That’s when power is abused. That’s when the most extreme voices in our society fill the void that we leave. That’s when powerful interests and their lobbyists are most able to buy access and influence in the corridors of power – because none of us are there to speak up and stop them.”
— Barack Obama

14. “Participation in public life doesn’t mean that you all have to run for public office – though we could certainly use some fresh faces in Washington. But it does mean that you should pay attention and contribute in any way that you can. Stay informed. Write letters, or make phone calls on behalf of an issue you care about. If electoral politics isn’t your thing, continue the tradition so many of you started here at Michigan and find a way to serve your community and your country – an act that will help you stay connected to your fellow citizens and improve the lives of those around you.”
— Barack Obama

15. “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.”
— Barack Obama

16. “In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.”
— Barack Obama

17. “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.”
— Barack Obama

18. “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.”
— Barack Obama

19. “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.”
— Barack Obama

20. “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.”
— Barack Obama

21. “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

22. “The thing about hip-hop today is it’s smart, it’s insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.”
— Barack Obama

23. “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.”
— Barack Obama

24. “Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.”
— Barack Obama

25. “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.”
— Barack Obama

26. “My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn’t, couldn’t end there. At least that’s what I would choose to believe.”
— Barack Obama

27. “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.”
— Barack Obama

28. “I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.”
— Barack Obama

29. “Change is never easy, but always possible.”
— Barack Obama

30. “The cynics may be the loudest voices – but I promise you, they will accomplish the least.”
— Barack Obama

31. “You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.”
— Barack Obama

32. “Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy.”
— Barack Obama

33. “We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”
— Barack Obama

34. “In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?”
— Barack Obama

35. “If you run you stand a chance of losing, but if you don’t run you’ve already lost.”
— Barack Obama

36. “The value of social movements and activism is to get you at the table, get you in the room, and then to start trying to figure out how is this problem going to be solved.”
— Barack Obama

37. “I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.”
— Barack Obama

38. “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

39. “Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”
— Barack Obama

40. “If you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like or who you love.”
— Barack Obama

41. “Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don’t settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world.”
— Barack Obama

42. “We are the change we have been waiting for.”
— Barack Obama

43. “We need to keep making our streets safer and our criminal justice system fairer – our homeland more secure, our world more peaceful and sustainable for the next generation.”
— Barack Obama

44. “Michelle’s like Beyoncé in that song. ‘Let me upgrade ya!’ She upgraded me.”
— Barack Obama

45. “We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up.”
— Barack Obama

46. “What Washington needs is adult supervision.”
— Barack Obama

47. “Where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.”
— Barack Obama

48. “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”
— Barack Obama

49. “When times get tough, we don’t give up. We get up.”
— Barack Obama

50. “We may not be able to stop evil in the world, but how we treat one another is entirely up to us.”
— Barack Obama

51. “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”
— Barack Obama

52. “I’m a warrior for the middle class.”
— Barack Obama

53. “I just miss – I miss being anonymous.”
— Barack Obama

54. “I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”
— Barack Obama

55. “Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.”
— Barack Obama

56. “We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”
— Barack Obama

57. “My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
— Barack Obama

58. “We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges.”
— Barack Obama

59. “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

60. “Now, as a nation, we don’t promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That’s an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.”
— Barack Obama