All of that is gonna be a heavy burden to carry. It can feel isolating. It can make you feel like your life somehow doesn't matter ... And as we've seen over the past few years, those feelings are real. They're rooted in decades of structural challenges that have made too many folks feel frustrated and invisible, and those feelings are playing out in communities like Baltimore and Ferguson and so many others across this country.

Michelle Obama

Categorized in : Politics

We have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.

Michelle Obama

fighting should world

Don't let anyone speak for you, and don't rely on others to fight for you.

Michelle Obama

rely fighting speak

I've seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are.

Michelle Obama

who-you-are president

You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.

Michelle Obama

decisions-you-make fear might

Cute's good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, 'Who are you as a person?' Look at the heart. Look at the soul. Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn't know. And, more important, how does he treat you?

Michelle Obama

mother cute children

Countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all their citizens can be heard.

Michelle Obama

stronger voice country

We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own 'to do' list.

Michelle Obama

balance jobs needs

My goal has always been to add value, not to be redundant, not to get in the way, but to do things that lift and move things forward in a very strategic and objective way so that there are real outcomes.

Michelle Obama

real goal moving

You've got to make choices that make sense for you because there's always going to be somebody who'll think you should do something differently.

Michelle Obama

choices should thinking

Success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.

Michelle Obama

shortcuts honesty squares

I hate diversity workshops. “Real change comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable.

Michelle Obama

diversity hate real

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.

Michelle Obama

fashion nice art

You see, even though back then Barack was a Senator and a presidential candidate... to me, he was still the guy who'd picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door... he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too small.

Michelle Obama

shoes coffee doors

Be passionate about something and lean to that strength.

Michelle Obama

passionate

Find people who will make you better.

Michelle Obama

people

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.

Michelle Obama

empowering what-matters healthy

All of us are driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won't do - that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.

Michelle Obama

fighting simple world

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

Michelle Obama

worried grades should-have

There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.

Michelle Obama

sacrifice inspiring inspirational

We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

Michelle Obama

honesty squares integrity