Michelle Obama

When I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

I’ve learned that from my husband, that sort of, you know, ability to not get too high or too low with changes and bumps in the road.

Being president doesn’t change who you are – it reveals who you are.

For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.

What I have never been afraid of is to be a little silly, and you can engage people that way!

I don’t believe in playing games. It’s not something I would do.

Debate cannot be stilled, and indeed, in a properly functioning system of propaganda, it should not be, because it has a system-reinforcing character if constrained within proper bounds. What is essential is to set the bounds firmly.

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.

The Pope! How many divisions has he got?

I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns… as at the inadequate securities which one finds there against tyranny.

I hope that things will not come to provocations (during the soccer World Cup). If this happens I think it would have very serious consequences for the Ukrainian government in general.

There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.

I have a great relationship with Kim Jong Un. He gave us back our hostages. I didn’t pay $1.8 billion. I paid nothing. But it was very smart that he did it.

When the victims are classified as less than human … Communists, terrorists, or whatever may be the contemporary term of art – their extermination raises no moral qualms. And the agents of extermination are praiseworthy moderates-our Nazis …

History will point out some of the things I did wrong and some of the things I did right.

Do you train for passing tests or do you train for creative inquiry?

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

That government is best which governs least.

Capital punishment is a crime. I agree with Amnesty International on that one, and indeed with most of the world. The state should have no right to take people’s lives.