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
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 dont want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential. – Barack Obama
I dont oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. – Barack Obama
Were not going to baby sit a civil war. – Barack Obama
Weve protected thousands of people in Libya we have not seen a single U.S. casualty theres no risks of additional escalation. This operation is limited in time and in scope. – Barack Obama
Its not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. – Barack Obama
Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because were hardwired not to always think clearly when were scared. And the countrys scared. – Barack Obama
I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If youre sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I. – Barack Obama
We need earmark reform, and when Im President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely. – Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point youve made enough money. – Barack Obama
We need somebody whos got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what its like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what its like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old – and thats the criterion by which Ill be selecting my judges. – Barack Obama
I think there are a whole host of things that are civil rights, and then there are other things – such as traditional marriage – that, I think, express a communitys concern and regard for a particular institution. – Barack Obama
I dont think marriage is a civil right, but I think that being able to transfer property is a civil right. – Barack Obama
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because its only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. – Barack Obama
We cant drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. Thats not leadership. Thats not going to happen. – Barack Obama
In the end, thats what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? – Barack Obama
But if you – if what – the reports are true, what theyre saying is, is that as a consequence of us getting 30 million additional people health care, at the margins thats going to increase our costs, we knew that. – Barack Obama
What I worry about would be that you essentially have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but you have simply, majoritarian, absolute power on either side. And thats just not what the founders intended. – Barack Obama
The Internet didnt get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. – Barack Obama
If the critics are right that Ive made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them. – Barack Obama
