Michelle Obama

You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms… you need to be preparing yourself to add your voice to our national conversation.

Find people who will make you better.

I could have spent eight years doing anything, and at some level, it would have been fine. I could have focused on flowers. I could have focused on decor. I could have focused on entertainment. Because any First Lady, rightfully, gets to define her role. There’s no legislative authority; you’re not elected. And that’s a wonderful gift of freedom.

We explain when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you do not stoop to their level. Our motto is when they go low, you go high.

You can’t whisper magical thoughts in your daughter’s ear and go into a workplace where you tolerate [this] existence. If you are tolerating that, that’s the workplace that will be waiting for your little girl, and you have sold her a bill of goods.

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

If you don’t get out there and try to solve your own problems, it’s never going to change.

If you are not willing to learn no one can help you. If you are determined to learn no one can stop you.

Many people who want to be great aren’t willing to do the work to make it possible!

An entrepreneur’s ability to find strength when others want to run, hide, quit, or blame someone else for their failures.

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

I maintained my edge by always being a student; you will always have something new to learn.

Don’t start the day until you have it finished. Don’t start the week until you have it finished. Don’t start the month until you have it finished. Plan your day.

What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask.

Focus on what you can control: your actions. How you react to negative feelings will be the key to your success.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

There is no need to be afraid of having faults, because knowing we have them can help us to improve.

I have always tried to avoid regrets. Could I have done differently some things in my career? Maybe.

Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the ability to act effectively, in spite of fear.

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all.