The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

When you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity...you do not slam it shut behind you...you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.

I think that people are tired. They're tired of the same old kind of politics. People want a new tone to politics.

My message to women: Do what makes you feel good, because there'll always be someone who thinks you should do it differently. Whether your choices are hits or misses, at least they're your own.

We're gathering a group of women around the administration to serve over a longer period of time as mentors to girls in need. If we can have that kind of impact in one night, just imagine if we were working with girls over the course of a year or two.... We can change lives.

I think that mentoring is such a critical part of the role I can play in my position. I see how little bits of exposure and big bits of exposure really change my girls significantly, and I want that for more girls around the country and the world.

Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg or your brain, it's still an illness, and there should be no distinction.