I have fought against spending. I have fought against special interests. I have fought for reform.

When you're out of work and you can't buy a home or you've lost your home and you're worried about paying your bills, then you become more worried about what other folks are doing. And sometimes that organizes itself around kind of a tribal attitude, and issues of race become more prominent.

Don’t ever let anybody tell you that your efforts don’t matter or that your voice doesn’t count. Don’t ever believe that you can’t make a difference. You have.

Across the globe there are girls who will one day lead nations, if only we afford them the chance to choose their own destinies.

Not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes; tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.

I can be much more sarcastic and, I think, sometimes withering in my assessments of things than I allow to show in my public life.

What we should be asking is not whether we need a big government or small government, but how we can create a smarter and better government.