I haven't eaten at a McDonald's since I became President.

Just try to imagine what it would be like to be 300 million years old.

You know, by the time you become the leader of a country, someone else makes all the decisions. ... You may find you can get away with virtual presidents, virtual prime ministers, virtual everything.

So much of modern politics is focused not on honest differences of policy but on personal attacks.

The established order has too many self-protecting economic entities, and not enough people who yet understand what it takes to change.

The divide of race has been America's constant curse. Each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction, are no different. They have nearly destroyed us in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. They torment the lives of millions in fractured nations around the world. These obsessions cripple both those who are hated and, of course, those who hate, robbing both of what they might become.

You don't have to wait till your party's in power to have an impact on life at home and around the world.