Barack Obama

If you were going to list the 100 most popular things that I have done as president. Being married to Michelle Obama is number one.

You can’t deny women their basic rights and pretend it’s about your ‘religious freedom’. If you don’t like birth control, don’t use it. Religious freedom doesn’t mean that you can force others to live by your own beliefs.

Michelle’s like Beyoncé in that song ‘Let me upgrade ya!’ She upgraded me.

I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.

I’m a history buff, and I know that big changes take time. But I also know that, setting politics aside, usually things are never as good as you think they are or as bad as you think they are. And that has served me well temperamentally.

My first four jobs were minimum wage or close to it.

A woman who is convinced that she deserves to accept only the best challenges herself to give the best. Then she is living phenomenally.

I am a woman with thoughts and questions and sh*t to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story – I will.

There’s a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice, and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that’s been very detrimental to the human race as a whole.

I’ve been at so many tables with so many folks who are imposters. But shame on us if we sit by and let an imposter talk us down.

If you look up feminist in the dictionary, it just means someone who believes men and women have equal rights …

Until we’re in those rooms as equally as men are, it can’t shift.

Girls should never be afraid to be smart.

[on her mother] she’s a very smart, independent woman who was kind of coming into her own in the feminist movement of the 70s and 80s

A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It’s equality, it’s fairness, and I think it’s a great thing to be a part of.

I have a little sister and I’m constantly annoyed [by] how terribly written most females are in most everything – and especially in comedy. Their anatomy seems to be the only defining aspect of their character, and I just find that untruthful and it straight up offends me.

I just love bossy women. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It mans somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.

We won’t unlock opportunities for young women and girls unless we can change the mindset of every family and community. To achieve this, it cannot just be women who speak up for girls.

The best thing you can do is to be a woman and stand before the world and speak your heart.

I’m usually good about my temper, but all these men trying to control women’s bodies are really beginning to piss me off.

I advise young women: Negotiate hard and know your worth.