My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them. I think that’s an important lesson, especially for the Latino culture, because the women are expected to be the ones that serve and cook and whatever. Not in our family. Everybody was equal.

Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men.

I speak to you only as an American who happens to be an American Negro and one who is proud of that heritage. We ask for nothing special. We ask only that we be permitted to compete on an even basis, and if we are not worthy, then the competition shall, per se, eliminate us.

It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.

Stupid as a man, say the women: cowardly as a woman, say the men. Stupidity in a woman is unwomanly.

It’s true that I’ve never had a burning desire to rebel against my parents.

Until blacks and whites see each other as brother and sister, we will not have parity. It’s very clear.

I’ve never doubted that apartheid – because it was of itself fundamentally, intrinsically evil – was going to bite the dust eventually.

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

My aim is to make the poor look rich and the rich look poor.

Black and brown pride have been taught in my household for a long time.

I’ve never been pregnant, so I just feel God didn’t mean for me to have kids so that everybody else’s children could be mine.

Where you live in the world should not determine whether you live in the world.

My daughter has impressions that she does of me.

I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.

My parents taught me never to judge others based on whom they love, what color their skin is, or their religion.

It doesn’t matter how long my hair is or what colour my skin is or whether I’m a woman or a man.

I should like to know if, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, you begin making exceptions to it, where will you stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?

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.

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.

Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none.

As a father, I always want my son to be perfect. When he was young, I tried to train him in martial arts, but he said, ‚I don’t want to become like Bruce Lee’s son, with everybody telling me how good my father was.‘ I just think my son is too lazy.

What, sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce.

I praticed making faces in the mirror and it would drive my mother crazy. She used to scare me by saying that I was going to see the devil if I kept looking in the mirror. That fascinated me even more, of course.

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.

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

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.

I don’t think my parents liked me. They put a live teddy bear in my crib.

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.

Girls shouldn’t worry about being the equal of men in the business world.

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

There is no question that liberals do an impressive job of expressing concern for blacks. But do the intentions expressed in their words match the actual consequences of their deeds?

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’m not great at bedtime stories. Bedtime stories are supposed to put the kid to sleep. My kid gets riled up and then my wife has to come in and go, ‚All right! Get out of the room.‘

There’s a schizoid streak within the family anyway so I dare say that I’m affected by that. The majority of the people in my family have been in some kind of mental institution, as for my brother he doesn’t want to leave. He likes it very much.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

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.

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal.

I’m not focused on the gay and lesbian movement.

To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.

The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.

No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts.

It is not true that people are naturally equal for no two people can be together for even a half an hour without one acquiring an evident superiority over the other.

The little man is still a man.

Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.

The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.

If we do not lift up women and families, everyone will fall short.

I think feminists are unaware of the tremendous extent of the role of women in history.

If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.

Science is global. Einstein’s equation, E=mc2, has to reach everywhere. Science is a beautiful gift to humanity, we should not distort it. Science does not differentiate between multiple races.

You’re not better than anybody else, but you’re not less than anybody else. You’re a child of the Most High God.

Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster.

This is pure speculation, but for a period of time, a lot of getting into a party was through fundraising and volunteer work, and Republican women had more time to do that than democratic women, who were out there getting jobs.

Black people can be the most conservative, the most discriminating. Especially among ourselves. It wasn’t white people who said all black men have to wear baggy jeans.

Nobody has ever convinced me that race is real.

Woman’s at best a contradiction still.