I had hesitated on gay marriage, in part, because I thought civil unions would be sufficient, i was sensitive to the fact that -- for a lot of people -- that the word marriage is something that provokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.

Barack Obama

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You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.

Barack Obama

define-you teach

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

change motivational inspirational

Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don’t settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world.

Barack Obama

hard-work dream believe

We are reminded that, in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.

Barack Obama

what-matters earth people

When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up.

Barack Obama

dont-give-up tough giving-up

When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk.

Barack Obama

ignorant ignorance want

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new.

Barack Obama

learning education school

Change is never easy, but always possible.

Barack Obama

easy

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.

Barack Obama

hope inspiring inspirational

Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

Barack Obama

nails doe mean

Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

Barack Obama

destiny fighting men

If somebody is different from you, that's not something you criticize, that's something that you appreciate.

Barack Obama

criticize appreciate different

What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world.

Barack Obama

kindness mistake joy

If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void

Barack Obama

giving-up voice ideas

A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.

Barack Obama

political ordinary people

We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.

Barack Obama

presidential future shapes

I don`t think the Donald Trump`s qualified to be president of the United States, and every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed.

Barack Obama

united-states president thinking

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up.

Barack Obama

where-you-are determine ends

If you only think about yourself - how much money can I make, what can I buy, how nice is my house, what kind of fancy car do I have? - over the long term, I think, you get bored. I think your life becomes diminished. The way to live a full life is to think: What can I do for others?

Barack Obama

fancy-cars nice thinking

When our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.

Barack Obama

stakes powerful responsibility