When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.

We never love a person, but only qualities.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.

I cry so much less than I used to. I used to be one of the most teary people.

Everything is generated through your own will power.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.

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

I’m of the school of thought where if you can’t sort something out for yourself then no one can help you.

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

I’ve lived a very colorful life, and I’ve said some things, But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them – and I won’t.

Whenever I’m around some who is modest, I think, ‚Run like hell and all of fire.‘ You don’t want modesty, you want humility.

For me, it’s about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me, is something deeply personal. It’s where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that’s very important to me.

I never do anything that I don’t want to do.

You need to understand what works best for your own body.

Why regret anything? Where does it get you to regret anything you’ve ever done in your life? It gets you nowhere. It’s a pathetic emotion that you can wallow in.

Whatever possession we gain by our sword cannot be sure or lasting, but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‚always do what you are afraid to do.‘

The Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School influenced my life tremendously. This was due to the fact that they encouraged you always to make sure that God is the focus of your life, and they didn’t allow you to do anything except to the very best of your ability.

Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.

Fear is real, but so is love.

Spending time with God through prayer and His Word is a prerequisite for having a great life and fulfilling your purpose.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it’s only us. And we’re only responsible to make ourselves happy.

We all have our imperfections. But I’m human, and you know, it’s important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty.

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

Pay attention, don’t let life go by you. Fall in love with the back of your cereal box.

I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music; I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed.

Now I do whatever I want.

The experience of life consists of the experience which the spirit has of itself in matter and as matter, in mind and as mind, in emotion, as emotion, etc.

Personal success or personal satisfaction are not worth another thought if one does achieve them, or worth worrying about if they evade one or are slow in coming. All that is really worth while is action – faithful action, for the world, and in God.

The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.

You can’t put your feet on the ground until you’ve touched the sky.

Children make your life important.

I made bad decisions. I’m not denying that I made bad decisions.

Marriage is a school itself. Also, having children. Becoming a father changed my whole life. It taught me as if by revelation.

All of us, no matter how we look born into this world, feel something like the Hunchback. It doesn’t matter if you have a beautiful face or not.

Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I thank God I’m myself and for the life I’m given to live and for friends and lovers and beloveds, and I thank God for knowing that all those people have already paid for me.

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

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.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.

In the struggle between yourself and the world second the world.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

My life is my argument.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.