Top 3188 Quotes & Sayings by Barack Obama - Page 50

If you're a progressive, you've got to be worried about how the federal government is spending its revenue, because we don't have enough money to spend on things like early childhood education that are so important.

Today, the world lost a creative icon. Michelle and I join millions of fans from around the world in mourning the sudden death of Prince.

We have states. And we have cities. And we have counties. And we have the private sector. And - and so the country still works even when Washington's dysfunctional.

For me, personally, the most difficult moments had to do with not just terrorist attacks, but also shootings.

Donald Trump is like Hillary Clinton said, a man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. You can`t do it.

I would say this, I'll go back to those black ladies I was talking about who love them some Barack and love Michelle even more - and by the way, they are not middle-aged anymore, because I'm now middle-aged. So they're a little bit older. As fervent as they were, as excited and happy as they were when I was elected, they had to go to work the next morning. They still had trouble paying those bills. They might have still had a son who was in trouble with the law or couldn't get a job because of a felony record. They didn't stop being grounded.

My hope is Donald Trump makes things better. And if he does, we'll all benefit from it.

To sustain a governing majority, that requires an ability for Republicans and Democrats to find some common ground. And right now, the structure of the system is such where it makes it really hard for people to work together.

It's up to [Angela Merkel] whether she wants to stand again and then ultimately, it'll be up to the German people to decide what the future holds. If I were here and I were German and I had a vote, I might support her.

I wanna thank the German people for the incredible partnership that our countries have been able to establish all these years.

We have to have a president who is clear that you don't deal with Russia based on staring into his eyes and seeing his soul. You deal with Russia based on, what are your - what are the national security interests of the United States of America? And we have to recognize that the way they've been behaving lately demands a sharp response from the international community and our allies.

I changed those things that were in direct - my direct control. I mean, I - look, I'm proud of the fact that, with two weeks to go, we're probably the first administration in modern history that hasn't had a major scandal in the White House.

There's no one who I believe has ever captured the soul of America more profoundly than Abraham Lincoln has.

I think Dona;d Trump is sincere in wanting to be a successful president and moving this country forward and I don't think any president ever comes in saying to himself "I want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country."

The problem is that young people are less likely to vote than older people. What results is a situation in which sometimes the elections don't fully reflect the views of the American population.

I'm not so out of touch that I don't see how young people interact today.It was horrific. And that's an example of something that it's not as if that's the first time that a hate crime has taken place in this country. Hate crimes have been taking place for hundreds of years in this country, but it's there on video.

Everybody acknowledges that the current path we're on is unsustainable, not just for the people who don't have health insurance but for those who do.

That is the nature of democracy. It is hard. It is not always inspiring.

It's the reason why I am always interested in engaging in people who are pushing us and pushing against the status quo. But having been an activist, the only thing that I'm always encouraging activists to do is, once you have raised the issue, and even through controversial means, you have to come behind it with an agenda and the possibility of reconciliation if power meets your demands.

We've been able to organize the international community around it in ways that aren't going to go back.

You have countries like India that have tried to help untouchables, with essentially affirmative-action programs, but it hasn't fundamentally changed the structure of their societies.

Even when you go up ramp, and you think about [Franklin D. Roosevelt] wheeling himself up, you know, got a little cigarette holder in his mouth, and it, that, that awe that you feel, that reverence that you feel for the place never entirely leaves.

Beside the two wars he inherited in Iraq and Afghanistan, and promised to end, a financial crisis at home had pushed the United States to the brink of another Great Depression. When we spoke with the new president in March of 2009, the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month, the government was throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at failing banks, and the auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Politically pummeled from all sides, Obama did his best to keep a sense of humor.

There are gonna be a core set of values that shouldn't be up for debate. Should be our north star.

As long as I'm president of the United States Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. I made that clear when I came into office.

It may be something that future generations are more open to, but I am pretty confident that for the foreseeable future, using the argument of nondiscrimination, and "Let's get it right for the kids who are here right now," and giving them the best chance possible, is going to be a more persuasive argument.

I am absolutely convinced that race relations on the whole are actually better now than they were 20 years [ago].

What makes [cyber security] difficult is because it's not just a government problem. It is a private sector and government problem. And there's gotta be a lot more cooperation.

I don't regret the excitement, because I do think that it helped us accomplish as much as we did.

If we can't meet with our friends, I don't know how we're going to lead the world in terms of dealing with critical issues like terrorism.

All the good things that are happening in America don't get reported on a lot.

I think that the issues we have with science these days are not restricted to what's happening with respect to religion. There are a lot of very religious scientists around.

To young people: you have to stay encouraged.

I think since the systematic emergence of terrorism and the assassination attempts, everything has tightened. My hope is that it loosens back up once I leave.

This is why the anti-discrimination principle being enforced is important. Because it won't stop if some of the underlying biases aren't challenged and surfaced. And that in and of itself creates backlash and denial. This is what I mean when I say better is hard.

In the course of a healthy debate, we prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit new information and concede that your opponent might be making a fair point, and that science and reason matter - then we're going to keep talking past each other, and we'll make common ground and compromise impossible.

More people are realising that ISIL's not a caliphate. It's a crime ring.

Maybe at the same time as I'm more confident today, I'm also more humble.

My liberty depends on you being free, too.

When you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial, it has less impact than it does when you're president of the United States. Everybody around the world's paying attention. Markets move. National security issues require a level of precision in order to make sure that you don't make mistakes.

You don't know how it would have turned out if [kids] would grown up in Chicago instead, and a more normal environment.

Reinvigorating the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, making sure that in our Department of Education, where we see evidence of black boys being suspended at substantially higher rates than white boys for the same behavior, in the absence of that kind of rigorous enforcement of the nondiscrimination principle, then the long-standing biases that I believe have weakened, but are still clearly present in our society, assert themselves in ways that usually disadvantage African Americans.

After my election there was talk of a postracial America. And such a vision, however well intended, was never realistic.

It's not appealing to deal with countries that express hatred towards us.

I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans - who are just as patriotic as we are.

I have somehow, continued to miss Oktoberfest so that's probably something that is better for me to do as a former president rather than as president, I'll have more fun.

You [Bill Maher] seem to have done alright with your TV show... I mean, I don't get a sense... to the extent that they're boycotting you, it's because of your other wacky views rather than your particular views on religion.

There is a wide range of views within the Jewish community, so it's not monolithic.

I think that I'll always remember the bust of Dr. [Martin Luther] King. I thought having an American here who represented rhat civic spirit that got me into this [president] office was useful.

The ideas of ancient Greece helped inspire America's founding fathers as they reached for democracy. Our revolutionary ideas helped inspire Greeks as they sought their own freedom.

The Asia Pacific is home to nearly half the world's population, a growing middle class and holds so much opportunity for us all.

Angela Merkel has been an extraordinary partner for me and for the United States throughout my presidency.

Everyone on my team should be extraordinarily proud of what they have done.

We all want the Greek people to prosper, to be able to provide a good life for their families and their children. That would be good for Greece, that would be good for the European Union, good for the United States, and ultimately, good for the world.

[Michelle Obama] used to say to our friends, "Barack's exactly the kind of guy I want to be president. I just wish he didn't want to do it when I was married to him."

I won Iowa not because the demographics dictated that I would win Iowa. It was because I spent 87 days going to every small town and fair and fish fry and BFW Hall, and there were some counties where I might have lost, but maybe I lost by 20 points instead of 50 points. There's some counties maybe I won, that people didn't expect, because people had a chance to see you and listen to you and get a sense of who you stood for and who you were fighting for.

All Americans should be deeply troubled by the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. We've seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who've suffered such a painful loss.

At a certain point you can't help but lose some feel for what's on the ground because you're not on the ground.

Our enemies are also seeking the abilities to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems.

We know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets.