Even my husband is happier when I'm happy. He has always said, "You figure out what you want to do," because he's discovered that personal happiness is connected to everything.

Walk away from 'friendships' that make you feel small and insecure, and seek out people who inspire you and support you

Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don't matter, or like you don't have a place in our American story - because you do.

Politics is a waste of time.

The realities are that, you know, as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, you know.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

Truly 1 percent of this country serves and protects the freedoms of the other 99 percent of us, so many of us don't have that connection. Fortunately, Jill Biden does. She's a blue-star mom. Their son was in the National Guard - or is in the - in - is a Reservist.