Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.

A smart girl leaves before she is left.

And so I think that the idea of America working with other countries to solve problems is good for us, and it is part of digging us out of the ‚my way or the highway‘ approach that was evident in the previous eight years.

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.

People think that at the top there isn’t much room. They tend to think of it as an Everest. My message is that there is tons of room at the top.

You have enough people against you… be for yourself.

I had nothing growing up, but I always wanted to be ‚sexy,‘ even before I knew what the word was.

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

I don’t need therapy. I’m not going to see a therapist; comedy acts as my therapy. I put my problems out there. I talk about them. I talk about everything before anybody has a chance.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice.

When we see the face of a child, we think of the future. We think of their dreams about what they might become, and what they might accomplish.

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

Early on in my life, I had a broken soul. I was abused by my father, abandoned by my mother and ended up in a destructive first marriage. By the time I was 23, I was broken in my soul. I didn’t know how to think right. I felt wrong about everything. But God stepped into my life, and I came out on the other side and didn’t even smell like smoke.

You know, I look like a woman but I think like a man. And in this world of business, that has helped me a lot. Because by the time they think that I don’t know what’s goin‘ on, I then got the money, and gone.

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils.

In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.

I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God’s creation, woman, the object of our lust.

We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

I actually feel more of a woman because I feel like I’m being smart about my choices, and I’m putting my family first, and I’m in charge of my life and my health. I think that’s what makes a woman complete.

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.

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,‘ he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. ‚Shake it off. Stop complainin‘. Stop grumblin‘. Stop cryin‘. We are going to press on. We have work to do.

We clearly see in God’s Word that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the ability to do it. But do we really believe it? Do we want to believe it? It’s easier to come up with excuses for why we can’t do things that are hard or that we really don’t want to do.

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

I’m not a centerfold.

There’s a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

There are those who believe Black people possess the secret of joy and that it is this that will sustain them through any spiritual or moral or physical devastation.

The proper study of mankind is woman.

If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn’t be anything for us to do.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.

Real beauty knocks you a little bit off kilter.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.

I don’t worry about stress. I create it.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

When I say to you, there is nobody like me, and there never was, that is a statement I want every woman to feel and make about themselves.

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway.

Information, education, skills, healthcare, livelihood, financial inclusion, small and village enterprises, opportunities for women, conservation of natural resources, distributed clean energy – entirely new possibilities have emerged to change the development model.

If you don’t set the tone for the day, the devil will set it for you.

Don’t grow accustomed to living with less, doing less, and being less to the point that you eventually sit back and accept it.

To those whose talents are above mediocrity, the highest subjects may be announced. To those who are below mediocrity, the highest subjects may not be announced.

A man is as good as he has to be, and a woman as bad as she dares.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.