The one way to get me to work my hardest was to doubt me.
You don't have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don't need any special equipment - that's the beauty of it.
Through my education, I didn't just develop skills, I didn't just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.
When they set off for their first day at their new school, I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just 7 and 10 years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men wi...
I am so tired of fear. And I don't want my girls to live in a country, in a world, based on fear.
When Barack was first elected, various commentators had naively declared that our country was entering a postracial era, in which skin color would no longer matter. Here was proof of how wrong they’d...
I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me abo...
We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity. And we can help create a...
I've seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are.
Twenty minutes later, I caught sight of Barack across the room, in the grips of what looked to be an endless conversation with the woman, who was doing a large portion of the talking. He shot me a loo...
Optics would always rule our lives.
Even if we didn't know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed.
We need someone with superb judgement in their own right because, yes, a president can hire the best advisors on Earth, but I guarantee you this: Five advisors will give five different opinions. And i...
I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters - two beautiful, intelligent black young women - playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of H...
The fact is, with every friendship you make, and every bond of trust you establish, you are shaping the image of America projected to the rest of the world. That is so important. So when you study abr...
When voters got to see me as a person, they understood that the caricatures were untrue. I’ve learned that it’s harder to hate up close.
Marriage, he told me early on, struck him as an unnecessary and overhyped convention.
The difference between us and them, between you and success, is not that you never fail, but it's how you recover from those failures - is that you keep getting up time and time again. You figure out...
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you're going to do. That you treat peo...
As Americans obsessed over the threat of terrorism, many were overlooking the racism and tribalism that were tearing our nation apart.