I report to you that our country is challenged at home and abroad: that it is our will that is being tried and not our strength; our sense of purpose and not our ability to achieve a better America.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

Above all, this country is our own. Nobody has to get up in the morning and worry what his neighbors think of him. Being a Jew is no problem here.

Here in England, everyone’s a pop star, innit, whereas in America they believe in the term artist.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

The problem with EMMA is that it is cost prohibitive for the small investors who were supposed to benefit from the new transparency.

Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.

I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.

Life is hard. After all, it kills you.

In Europe first and now in America, elected men have taken it upon themselves to indebt their people to create an atmosphere of dependency. And why? For their own selfish need to increase their own personal power.

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.

If you have a family mission statement that clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make the decisions.

America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.

And obviously, from our own personal point of view, the principal challenge is a personal challenge.

Through every victory and every setback, I’ve insisted that change is never easy and never quick; that we wouldn’t meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime.

Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable.

America’s experience, like many others, teaches us that fostering entrepreneurship is not just about crafting the right economic policy or developing the best educated curricula. It’s about creating an entire climate in which innovation and ideas flourish.

The odds of me coming into the rocket business, not knowing anything about rockets, not having ever built anything, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds were in my favor.

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

I’m trying to throw a big broad net to try to get people interested in God and believe that He’s for them and has a purpose.

There are a lot of inaccuracies out there when it comes to the SEAL training process. You will see guys carrying logs around on television. They think that the hardest part about being on a SEAL team is getting through that training. The fact of the matter is, if you have a good attitude, that training is fun. I had a blast.

Everyone, no doubt, remains first and foremost a man of his own country and continues to draw from it his motive force.

Millions of students now, in all the schools of America, are reading science fiction and especially, thank God, ‚The Martian Chronicles.‘

Pakistan is not a unified country.

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.

I mean… in life… what relationship is easy?

We all knew this. We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis.

So long as our Corps fields such Marines, America has nothing to fear from tyrants, be they Fascists, Communists or Tyrants with Medieval Ideology. For we serve in a Corps with no institutional confusion about our purpose: To fight! To fight well!

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.

Confidence is always a good thing to have going into the weekend. Especially where it’s quite difficult to put the lap together.

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.

The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

I’m not a man deeply interested in technology. It eludes me.

There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there’s the United States of America.

For me, America is really, truly the indispensable nation.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‚What are you doing for others?‘

In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category.

My government is working for the common man. Our priority is the poor of the country. We want good governance through a dynamic and seamless government.

Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy’s enemies have refined their instruments of repression.

As individuals, people are inherently good. I have a somewhat more pessimistic view of people in groups. And I remain extremely concerned when I see what’s happening in our country, which is in many ways the luckiest place in the world. We don’t seem to be excited about making our country a better place for our kids.

John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.

God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like they did.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

My dad used to have an expression – ‚It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.‘

In England, when an athlete gets to the top, we do our best to destroy him.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.

Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.

I feel that God wants me to coach; otherwise, he wouldn’t have put the desire in me.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Here in America, we don’t let our differences tear us apart. Not here. Because we know that our greatness comes from when we appreciate each other’s strengths, when we learn from each other, when we lean on each other, because in this country, it’s never been each person for themselves. No, we’re all in this together. We always have been.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we – we own this country. We – we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

I don’t think anybody in America ought to be scared.

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.