Michelle Obama

I have had to learn that my voice has value. And if I don’t use it, what’s the point of being in the room?

Good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

It’s powerful to have strong men but what does that strength mean?

I was loved dearly by my father but I was never so precious that he didn’t think that I could be in there right at the table.

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

She does have a very nice figure… If [Ivanka] weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.

[On his mother’s adversity] She had a very difficult beginning… All of my mothers family were killed… and she came to America at the time of the depression. It was not an easy life at all.

I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years.

My father died in 1960. He was an intellectual. . . . She made the money and he read a lot. He wasn’t successful or ambitious. He spoke lots of languages. There were times that kids said to me, ‘What does your father do?’ and I had to make something up because I actually didn’t know what he did.

Once I became a mother I knew that I was strong, but not ready to do what I’m doing now

When I get up and work out, I’m working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It’s just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.

Your siblings are the only people in the world who know what it’s like to have been brought up the way you were.

I’ve known people that was a part of a family and always feel that the family liked everyone else but them. That hurts, and that’s as deep a hurt as you can possibly get. I’ve known people that would have problems with their love life. This is kind of how blues began – out of feeling misused, mistreated. Feeling like they had nobody to turn to. Blues don’t necessarily have to be sung by a person that came from Mississippi as I did, because there are people having problems all over the world.

The family is very important. They make me feel good always because if I won, when I started to be famous, the relationship never changed with my friends and family.

I know what it’s like to be married and to live in a house with a garden, but it’s not something I’m striving for at the moment.

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

My daughter hasn’t seen me with anybody in five years. I’m very, very selective when it comes to that because I want to make sure that it’s real. I don’t want her to see me with just anybody because she means everything to me.

Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway.

The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend.

I have not been a good father, but no father has loved his children more. Like my father, I decided the best thing I could do for my kids was work and provide. Fortunately, I’ve been able to do that. Unfortunately, my work was on the road, and that’s meant a life of one-nighters.