We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither.

It's heartbreaking to see so many people trapped in a web of enforced idleness, deep debt, and gnawing self-doubt.

If you take advantage of the fact that technology abolishes distance, then you won't need to go to India. Just go to Indiana.

Music can give you your dreams. It will teach you hard work, it will break your heart and make you so happy, you can't stand it. . . .I don't think I'd have been president if it hadn't been for music.

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

Our campaign is the opposite of 'competence.'

My fellow Americans, all of us in this grand hall and everybody watching at home, when we vote in this election, we'll be deciding what kind of country we want to live in. If you want a winner-take-all, you're-on-your-own society, you should support the Republican ticket. But if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility, a we're-all-in-this-together society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.