“ There's nobody to guide through the process of becoming a man... to explain to them the meaning of manhood. And that's a recipe for disaster. Barack Obama
“ That's what the leadership was teaching me, day by day: that the self-interest I was supposed to be looking for extended well beyond the immediacy of issues, that beneath the small talk and sketchy bi… Barack Obama
“ My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there. At least that's what I would choose to believe. Barack Obama
“ Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Admi… Barack Obama
“ Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, and i… Barack Obama
“ Another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we… Barack Obama
“ We hang on to our values, even if they seem at times tarnished and worn; even if, as a nation and in our own lives, we have betrayed them more often that we care to remember. What else is there to gui… Barack Obama
“ This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of comm… Barack Obama
“ Each path to knowledge involves different rules and these rules are not interchangeable. Barack Obama
“ And that, I suppose, is what I'd been trying to tell my mother that day: that her faith in justice and rationality was misplaced, that we couldn't overcome after all, that all the education and good i… Barack Obama
“ I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent or overly practiced. I have the urge to cut the book by fifty pages or so… Barack Obama
“ 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. Barack Obama
“ You might be locked in a world not of your own making, her eyes said, but you still have a claim on how it is shaped. You still have responsibilities. Barack Obama
“ This pleased Onyango, for to him knowledge was the source of all the white man's power, and he wanted to make sure that his son was as educated as any white man. Barack Obama
“ That's just how white folks will do you. It wasn't merely the cruelty involved; I was learning that black people could be mean and then some. It was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in o… Barack Obama
“ I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybod… Barack Obama
“ Winter came and the city [Chicago] turned monochrome -- black trees against gray sky above white earth. Night now fell in midafternoon, especially when the snowstorms rolled in, boundless prairie stor… Barack Obama
“ The boarded-up homes, the decaying storefronts, the aging church rolls, kids from unknown families who swaggered down the streets - loud congregations of teenage boys, teenage girls feeding potato chi… Barack Obama
“ More than a building that houses books and data, the library has always been a window to a larger world--a place where we've always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the… Barack Obama
