It's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world.

It's true that I have not been able to completely close Guantanamo, but we've drastically reduced the population from 700 or so to around 60 now.

We think about the enormous costs of homelessness, or the enormous cost of HIV/AIDS, over the long term, as people visit emergency rooms, etc. The more we are investing in that ounce of prevention the better off we're going to be.

One of the proudest things of my three years in office is helping to restore a sense of respect for America around the world.

The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person.

We seem to have trouble with [critical thinking]. And our political system doesn't help.