Michelle Obama Quotes

You have to practice success. Success doesn't just show up. If you aren't practicing success today, you won't wake up in 20 years and be successful, because you won't have developed the habits of success, which are small things like finishing what you start, putting a lot of effort into everything you do, being on time, treating people well.

Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.

We learned about dignity and decency - that how hard you work matters more than how much you make... that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.

Childhood obesity isn't some simple, discrete issue. There's no one cause we can pinpoint. There's no one program we can fund to make it go away. Rather, it's an issue that touches on every aspect of how we live and how we work.

There's no expert on this planet who says that the government telling people what to do actually does any good with this issue, this is going to require an effort on everyone's part.

And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.

We've got a responsibility to live up to the legacy of those who came before us by doing all that we can to help those who come after us.

Learning through the arts reinforces critical academic skills in reading, language arts and math, and provides students with the skills to creatively solve problems.

I had the honor of meeting a young Pakistani woman named Malala Yousafzai, who was shot and nearly killed just for trying to go to school. I also heard about how nearly 300 girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their school dorms in the middle of the night. There are girls like this in every corner of the globe. In fact, there are more than 62 million girls worldwide not attending school, and that's an outrage.

Treat people with dignity and respect.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

Over the years I've become more confident in people's ability to recognize a good thing.

If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire...if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores...if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote...if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time...if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream...and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love...then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.

Cute's good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, 'Who are you as a person?' Don't look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. When you're dating a man, you should always feel good. ... You shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who doesn't make you completely happy and make you feel whole.

I was not raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of.

We need all hands on deck, and that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

We can aim to create a culture, where kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them.

Believe it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our mortgage.

It's all about patience and persistence - you often have to expose a child to a new food numerous times before he or she will begin to like it. So keep trying!

I try to tell young people to get in shape now, because it's easier. If you're 30 and want to drop 10 pounds, all you have to do is just walk.

No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, you are beautiful.

One of the things that attracted me to Barack [Obama] was his emotional honesty. Right off the bat he said what he felt. There are no games with him - he is who he appears to be.

It's important for us not to lose sight of the fact that this is a family that's grieving and there's been a tremendous loss. And we all have to rally around that piece of it.

Being a healthy woman isn't about getting on a scale or measuring your waistline. We need to start focusing on what matters-on how we feel, and how we feel about ourselves.

We have to make sure that our kids still feel good about themselves no matter what their weight, no matter how they feel. We need to make sure that our kids know that we love them no matter who they are, what they look like, what they're eating.

The work-life balance is a harsh reality for so many women, who are forced every day to make impossible choices. Do they take their kids to the doctor...and risk getting fired? Do they work weekends so they can afford to send their kids to better childcare...even though it means even less time with their families? Do they take another shift at work, so they can pay for piano lessons for their kids...even though it means they have to stop volunteering for the PTA? It just shouldn't be this difficult to raise healthy families.

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

If proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.

I joke that I stick with the job because it covers my insurance, but the reality is that my career has always been very important to me.

The president [Barack Obama] asked for a commitment of, I think, 100,000 jobs for veterans and military spouses over the next couple of years. And we announced during the tour last week that we have gotten more than 60,000 jobs, and we're well on our way to just crashing that goal out of the water, because what businesses are understanding is that these men and women are some of the most highly trained resources that we have in this country.

I love french fries, I like a good burger, and I like pie. And that's okay. I would be depressed if I felt I could never eat the things that I love. I also don't want my girls to be obsessed about food. We don't have a "no junk food" rule - I just want them to think about their choices.

And that's my message to voters, this isn't about Barack, it's not about person on that ballot -- its about you. And for most of the people we are talking to [blacks], a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on, regardless of who said what or did this -- that shouldn't even come into the equation.

Barack Obama was always special, you know? And not special, like, He's gonna be important, he's gonna be president. He was special in terms of his honesty, his sincerity, his compassion for other people.

We were so young, so in love, and so in debt.

And what has been just completely heart warming is to see that people are really hungry for something different.

The benefits of studying abroad are almost endless.

Service is a limitless opportunity, it is the reason why we breathe.

I try to be thoughtful about spreading the wealth: young designers. Mixing things up is important to me.

Today Jazz music is performed & listened to by people of all ethnicity, backgrounds, ages & creeds.

My view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House. Can't do it.

I was too worried about the grades and I should have been more worried about learning.

I have never felt more confident in myself, more clear on who I am as a woman. But I am constantly thinking about my own health and making sure that I'm eating right and getting exercise and watching the aches and pains. I want to be this really fly 80-90-year old.

In our house we don't take ourselves too seriously, and laughter is the best form of unity, I think, in a marriage.

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.

Even in these tough economic times, Barack [Obama] has left the VA budget as is so that they're prepared to deal with this influx of men and women who are coming home and dealing with a whole array of issues, not just around mental health but just caregiving and the stresses of reconnecting with families who have been away from each other for a very long time.

There are many different ways that a military person's career can be translated.

Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much. They didn't begrudge anyone else's success or care that others had much more than they did, in fact, they admired it.

No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.