Barack Obama's quotes on the importance of family

We don't ask you to believe in our ability to bring change, rather, we ask you to believe in yours.

The best anti-poverty program is a world-class education.

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.

Greatness is never a given. It must be earned..

Every man is trying to live up to his father's expectations or make up for their father's mistakes.

A nation that can't control its energy sources can't control its future.

We are a people of improbable hope.

I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody.

When we think of the major threats to our national security, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat lurks beyond our shores, one from nature, not humans - an avian flu pandemic.

You have the ability and gifts to do whatever you want.

There is no excuse for not trying.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

Religious freedom doesn't mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs.

What makes a man is not the ability to have a child but having the courage to raise one.

We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.

We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.

Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.