Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

We believe that every single child has boundless promise, no matter who they are, where they come from, or how much money their parents have. We’ve got to remember that. We believe that each of these young people is a vital part of the great American story.

I can’t help the way you was born if you was gay.

With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

We reached a high point in my opinion with the passage of the civil rights legislation and Martin Luther King’s success and the crusade of others. I think we kind of breathed a sigh of relief as if we had achieved the end of racial discrimination or white supremacy.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

People forget… that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that’s what happened.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal.

Taxation is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it.

What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.

I think all Americans believe in human rights. And health is an often overlooked aspect of basic human rights. And it’s one that’s easily corrected. The reason I say that is that many of the diseases that we treat around the world, I knew when I was a child. My mother was a registered nurse. And they no longer exist in our country.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.

I will not sit in a room with black people when the N word is used. I know it was meant to belittle a person, so I will not sit there and have that poison put on me. Now a black person can say, ‚Oh, you know, I can use this word because I’m black.‘

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.

You gotta understand: I believe a woman should praise the man, the king. If you holding it down for your woman, I feel like the woman should praise. And the man should praise the queen.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

All the blood is drained out of democracy – it dies – when only half the population votes.

There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‚race‘ – the human race – and that we are all members of it.

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

All religions and all communities have the same rights, and it is my responsibility to ensure their complete and total protection. My government will not tolerate or accept any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion.

For the record, our democracy is revered around the world. And free elections are the best way on Earth to choose our leaders. This is how we elected John F. Kennedy; Ronald Reagan; two George Bushes; Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama. It has worked for decades.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

People do not make wars; governments do.

Any government that supports, protects or harbours terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out… without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.

Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?

I try to speak plainly so that my constituents who don’t follow the nuances of government like I do, because they’re too busy earning a real living, can understand the issues before me. None of this stuff is brain surgery.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.

It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence.

The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.

The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood – rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky – they all turn out in one day.

I do not believe that government should be in the business of telling women what they should do with their bodies.

There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.

It’s annoying, but justice and equality are mates. Aren’t they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it.