Michelle Obama Quotes

“He’s always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.’ It’s like, Why don’t you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet.”
― Michelle Obama

“[Y]ou may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“We simply do not allow space in our hearts, minds, or souls for darkness.
Instead, we choose faith. Faith in ourselves and the power of hard work. Faith in our God whose overwhelming love sustains us every single day. That's what we choose.
We choose love. Our love for our children. Our commitment to leaving them a better world. Our love for our country which has given us so many blessings and advantages. Our love for our fellow citizens: parents working hard to support their kids, men and women in uniform who risk everything to keep us safe, young people from the toughest background who never stop believing in their dreams, some people like so many of you. That's what we choose.
And we choose excellence. We choose to tune out all the noise and strive for excellence in everything we do. No cutting corners, no taking shortcuts, no whining. We give 120% every single time. Because excellence is the most powerful answer you can give to the doubters and the haters. It's also the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. Because the process of striving, and struggling, and pushing yourself to new heights, that's how you develop your God-given talent. That's how you make yourself stronger, and smarter, and more able to make a difference for others.”
― Michelle Obama

“Madeleine Albright has said that there is 'a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.' What are the implications of this statement? Would it be an argument in favor of the candidacy of Mrs. Clinton? Would this mean that Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama don't deserve the help of fellow females? If the Republicans nominated a woman would Ms. Albright instantly switch parties out of sheer sisterhood? Of course not. (And this wearisome tripe from someone who was once our secretary of state ...)”
― Christopher Hitchens

“That's not water. That's socialism juice. We should bomb Lake Erie.”
― Bill Maher

“I knew from my own life experience that when someone shows genuine interest in your learning and development, even if only for ten minutes in a busy day, it matters. It matters especially for women, for minorities, for anyone society is quick to overlook.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“It's okay to Evolve and Change, and become more of who you really are. It's okay to Become More Yourself.”
― Jeanette Coron

“...failure is a feeling long before it's an actual result.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“And there was the time Paul McCartney serenaded my wife with “Michelle.” She laughed, a little embarrassed, as the rest of the audience applauded, and I wondered what Michelle’s parents would have said back in 1965, the year the song came out, if someone had knocked on the door of their South Side home and told them that someday the Beatle who wrote it would be singing it to their daughter from a White House stage.”
― Barack Obama, A Promised Land

“The lesson being that in life, you control what you can.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“I wasn't going to let one person's opinion dislodge everything I thought I knew about myself.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“Some of my Black sistas don’t know any better, so I’d like to give them some enlightening food-for-thought. Many of them are in awe when it comes to Michelle Obama. They admire and celebrate her intelligence and beauty. For many Black women, she’s a positive and powerful role model. Our former First Lady is phenomenal to say the least! She’s a lawyer, writer, and she fearlessly wears many other hats with integrity and grace. But, here’s what I’d like to point out: If you can admire and celebrate her, why can’t you do the same for YOUR family and friends? Why is it that when people that you personally know obtain degrees, start a successful business, buy a home, are financially secure, happily married, etc… Here you go hatin’ on them. Why can’t you genuinely be happy for them and share in their greatness? I encourage you to celebrate the Black women around you, too!”
― Stephanie Lahart

“Stages, audiences, lights, applause. These were becoming more normal than I'd ever thought they could be. What I lived for now were the unrehearsed, un-photographed, in-between moments where nobody was performing and no one was judging and real surprise was still possible - where sometimes without warning you might feel a tiny latch spring open on your heart.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“Look how I'm managing, I wanted to say in those moments, to my audience of no one. Does everyone see that I'm pulling this off?”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“The more in touch you are with your sensuality, the more you will be able to learn how to tap into the skills that define feminine leadership, and the more valuable your personal brand will become.”
― Lebo Grand

“In Bell's view resistance was essential. He believed significant progress, if it ever came, would emerge from the ground up, assisted by a recognition by white people that black advancement served their own interests. "History gets made through confrontation. Nothing gets done without pushing.”
― Peter Slevin, Michelle Obama: A Life

“Black women - the world knows that we are strong because our strength is legendary. We are Harriet Tubman, Michelle Obama, and Rosa Parks. We are Oprah Winfrey, Nanny, and Mae Jameson. We are Shirley Chisholm, Portia Simpson and Maya Angelou. We have birthed a nation, rescued slaves, built empires, traveled to space and written our place in history. Survival is not enough; we were built to rise.”
― Janet Autherine, The Heart and Soul of Black Women: Poems of Love, Struggle and Resilience

“Anxietatea este o parte fireasca din a face ceva nou si maret.”
― Michelle Obama

“Cand echilibrul nu e posibil, suntem provocati sa evoluam.”
― Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

“For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally: Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“When lies are built on top of deeply rooted stereotypes they become far easier to perpetuate.”
― Michelle Obama

“There's an early family photograph, a black and white of the four of us sitting on a couch, my mother smiling as she holds me on her lap, my father appearing serious and proud with Craig perched on his. We're dressed for church or maybe a wedding. I'm about eight months old, a pudge-faced, no nonsense bruiser in diapers and an ironed white dress, looking ready to slide out of my mother's clutches, staring down the camera as if I might eat it. Next to me is Craig, gentlemanly in a little bow tie and suit jacket, bearing an earnest expression. He's two years old and already the portrait of brotherly vigilance and responsibility— his arm extended towards mine, his fingers wrapped protectively around my fat wrist.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming