Barack Obama Quotes (181 Quotes)

I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.

None of us wants to see any fraud or waste in government spending, ... But nowhere should we be more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt than with the brave men and women who served our country.

If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

These shells behind us, these casings, are a testimony to the decades that have been spent creating weapons of destruction, ... The hopes in the programs that have been discussed today are that we can start using our resources to dismantle these arms and create a more peaceful and safe future for the people of Ukraine and for people all around the world.

The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

I don't understand how you could have a situation where you've got several days' notice of an enormous hurricane building in the Gulf Coast, you know that New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level. ... The notion that you don't have good plans in place just does not make sense,

And we have done more in the two and a half years that I've been in here than the previous 43 Presidents to uphold that principle, whether it's ending "don't ask, don't tell," making sure that gay and lesbian partners can visit each other in hospitals, making sure that federal benefits can be provided to same-sex couples.

You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt.

lift this candidate up.

When the federal government would actually save millions of dollars by forgoing the status quo and actually sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight. A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line.

held no public office, she wasn't a wealthy woman, didn't appear in the society pages, she did not have an advanced degree (but) when the history of this country is written ... it is this small quiet woman whose name will be remembered.

You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you're held responsible for everything, but you don't always have control of everything, right?

I just want to go through Central Park and watch folks passing by. Spend the whole day watching people. I miss that.

So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you - and fight alongside you - until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.

What do you think a stimulus is? It's spending - that's the whole point! Seriously.

I said that America's role would be limited; that we would not put ground troops into Libya; that we would focus our unique capabilities on the front end of the operation, and that we would transfer responsibility to our allies and partners.

If everybody that voted in 2008 shows up in 2010, we will win this election. We will win this election.

We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.

If anything, the fiasco of last week should underscore the degree to which the vulnerable among us should not be forgotten, ... They should be not forgotten when we're setting budget policy, they should not be forgotten when we're drafting plans for evacuation, and they should not be forgotten when we're crafting constitutional law.

We're not going to baby sit a civil war.

You will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

To provide an additional 50 billion in capital gains and dividend tax breaks over the next 10 years, while permitting many of these taxpayers to shirk their responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes is a moral outrage that should not be allowed to happen.

What is a danger is that we stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high, people who have jobs see their incomes go up, businesses make big profits. But they're learned to do more with less, and so they don't hire.

I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I am president and George Bush is not president, Al Qaeda is still a threat.

John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.

I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.

It's time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

My administration is the only thing between you [CEO's] and the pitchforks.

My family, frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn't raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.

To the extent that we've got a fiscal crisis right now, part of it is prompted by a bullheaded insistence on the part of the president, for example, that we should extend all of his tax cuts, make all of them permanent.

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

I think that given how closely divided the court is and given the magnitude of some of the decisions that will probably be coming down during the course of his tenure on the court that I will be flying blind a little bit. There's no way to tell how his judgments will come down on some of these critical issues.

I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government toward the least of these,

I just miss - I miss being anonymous.

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.

A thorough, multifaceted nonproliferation strategy is essential to fully defend the American people. We urge you to keep these critical initiatives foremost in importance and funding allocation.

I will continue to believe that Israel's security is paramount.

In the absence of sound oversight,responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system.

The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.

What people want to know is who has a set of concrete plans to help them send their kids to college, or save for retirement.

It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

I didn't see the weapons of mass destruction at the time, I didn't think there was an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.

Instead of having a set of policies that are equipping people for the globalization of the economy, we have policies that are accelerating the most destructive trends of the global economy.

I think what you're seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out.

Where the stakes are the highest, in the war on terror, we cannot possibly succeed without extraordinary international cooperation. Effective international police actions require the highest degree of intelligence sharing, planning and collaborative enforcement.

People can sort of put it off, and it's not confronting you day-to-day in an immediate sort of way. The consequence of inaction can be enormous, but I think it's one of those issues where until it's too late, you don't see a problem.

Issues are never simple. One thing I'm proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.