Michelle Obama

I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

When I hear people say, ‘you run,’ it’s part of the problem. We still didn’t get ‘yes we can’ right. It’s not ‘yes you can,’ it’s ‘yes we can.’ And until we get that right, it doesn’t matter who runs.

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

Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed.

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.

I think every kid needs to get a taste of what it’s like to do that real hard work.

The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself.

Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart […] I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!

The way I define beauty is individuality and wisdom, which I think creates a certain inner confidence. And not confidence in a way that’s only on the surface, but a deep-down knowing of yourself or settling into who you are.

Anna spoke not only naturally and intelligently, but intelligently and casually, without attaching any value to her own thoughts, yet giving great value to the thoughts of the one she was talking to.

Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.

You’re not worth the time that this is taking.

I didn’t talk to anyone about [postpartum depression]. I was very reluctant.. Four of my friends felt the same way I did, and everyone was too embarrassed to talk about it.

Imperfections make you beautiful, they make you who you are.

Don’t ever call a girl fat. Even if you’re joking.

I’ve never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines. I represent the majority of women, and I’m very proud of that.

I am always with myself, and it is I who am my tormentor.

Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.

Being able to take care of myself is something that my mom really instilled in me.

Being cool is being your own self, not doing something that someone else is telling you to do.