I know that gaps can be closed. And they can be closed substantially, more than I think we believe.

I think it's useful to keep in mind I've been now President for over seven years and gun sales don't seem to have suffered during that time.

If you run you stand a chance of losing, but if you don't run you've already lost.

Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.

For me, Lincoln is like just a handful of people - a Gandhi, or a Picasso, or a Martin Luther King Jr. - who is an original and captures something essential.

We are not a nation that says, 'Don’t ask, don’t tell.' We are a nation that says, 'Out of many, we are one.' We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we upheld today.

A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.