No country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.

Israel is a true friend. It is our greatest ally in the region. And if Israel is attacked, America will stand with Israel. I've made that clear throughout my presidency.

The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own.

Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization. Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past - none of these things have been helpful.

I'm not going to Wall Street [after the presidency]. The amount of time that I'll be investing in issues is going to be high. But it'll be necessarily in a different capacity.

The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil.

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