Quotes from Barack Obama

What I knew was that he was a spectacle, and in the United States of America in 2011, that was a form of power. Trump trafficked in a currency that, however shallow, seemed to gain more purchase with each passing day. The same reporters who laughed at my jokes would continue to give him airtime. Their publishers would vie to have him sit at their tables. Far from being ostracized for the conspiracies he'd peddled, he in fact had never been bigger.

Solo hay una cosa que puede dar por segura, señor presidente —me dijo—. Cualquier día, en cualquier momento dado, alguien, en algún lugar, la está cagando.»

rituals of diplomacy, but also rituals of tribute to an empire.

We won't be doing anything to protect the environment," Plouffe had barked when questioned by a group of advocates, "if we lose Ohio and Pennsylvania!" —

our actions often contradicted the ideals of democracy, self-determination, and human rights we professed to embody.

we will learn to live together, cooperate with one another, and recognize the dignity of others, or we will perish. And so the world watches America—the only great power in history made up of people from every corner of the planet, comprising every race and faith and cultural practice—to see if our experiment in democracy can work.

Show me someone who's okay with losing," he said, "and I'll show you a loser.

For most Americans, the basic bargain that made this country great has eroded … rooted in the nagging sense that no matter how hard they work, the deck is stacked against them. This kind of gaping inequality is the defining challenge of our time … and gives lie to the promise at the very heart of America: that this is the place where you can make it if you try

This is it, Barack," Michelle said. "One last time. But don't expect me to do any campaigning. In fact, you shouldn't even count on my vote.

was a clever idea, and one with enough traction that Nancy Pelosi had included it in the House bill. But on the Senate side, we were nowhere close to having sixty votes for a public option.

Just as I had in Illinois, I tried to do what I could to influence policy at the margins, pushing modest, nonpartisan measures—funding to safeguard against a pandemic outbreak

No matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off, or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.

the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), designed to reduce the monthly mortgage payments of eligible homeowners to no more than 31 percent of their income, and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which would help borrowers refinance their mortgage at lower rates even if their homes were underwater.

Which is exactly what Donald Trump understood when he started peddling assertions that I had not been born in the United States and was thus an illegitimate president. For millions of Americans spooked by a Black man in the White House, he promised an elixir for their racial anxiety.

how you could build power not by putting others down but by lifting them up. This was true democracy at work—democracy not as a gift from on high, or a division of spoils between interest groups, but rather democracy that was earned, the work of everybody.

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.

Built like a linebacker, with a square jaw, broad features, and a gray comb-over, Netanyahu was smart, canny, tough, and a gifted communicator in both Hebrew and English. (He'd been born in Israel but spent most of his formative years in Philadelphia, and traces of that city's accent lingered in his polished baritone.)

I was learning yet another difficult lesson about the presidency: that my heart was now chained to strategic considerations and tactical analysis, my convictions subject to counterintuitive arguments; that in the most powerful office on earth, I had less freedom to say what I meant and act on what I felt than I'd had as a senator—or as an ordinary citizen

They're not trying to get filthy rich. They don't expect someone else to do what they can do for themselves.

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it? Or just let it slip …");

But they do expect that if they're willing to work, they should be able to find a job that supports a family.

But if my own impact on Chicago was small, the city changed the arc of my life.

Then there are people who do the opposite, who are able to imagine how others must feel, and make sure that they don't do things that hurt people.

Unless we could recognize one another's reality, I'd argue, we would never solve the problems America faced.