The sooner you learn that life is not fair, the better off you'll be, because you'll spend less time railing against life's unfairness and feeling aggrieved and entitled, and more time figuring out how to maximize your assets, and your talents and how to deal with things that you're not very good at.

I was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. I didn't have a white classmate till we moved to Denver.

It's bad policy to speculate on what you'll do if a plan fails when you're trying to make a plan work.

After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history.

Every life is worthy and every life is capable of greatness. We have an obligation to make sure that opportunity for greatness is there.

We need a common enemy to unite us.

You will make a difference in the world, but not immediately. Your first obligation is to find something you like doing, because if you like doing it, you'll do it well.