Top 500 Barack Obama Quotes (2024 Update)
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251. “It’s important to listen to what scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient, especially when it’s inconvenient.”

— Barack Obama

252. “What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth.”

— Barack Obama

253. “The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we’ve changed this country before.”

— Barack Obama

254. “I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody’s religious beliefs -including my own- on nonbelievers.”

— Barack Obama

255. “The terrorists do not speak for over a billion Muslims who reject their hateful ideology.”

— Barack Obama

256. “Solyndra is a great investment in our future.”

— Barack Obama

257. “I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It’s not a good use of our resources.”

— Barack Obama

258. “There was never a promise that race relations in America would be entirely resolved during my presidency or anybody’s presidency. I mean, this has been a running thread – and – and fault line in American life and American politics since its founding.”

— Barack Obama

259. “I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point.”

— Barack Obama

260. “To break our addiction to oil is one of the greatest challenges that our generation will have to master.”

— Barack Obama

261. “I can’t really characterize any country, except to say that we work well with a number of our foreign counterparts.”

— Barack Obama

262. “We should not anticipate that every time countries come together that we are doing some revolutionary thing. Instead of hitting home runs, sometimes we’re going to hit singles.”

— Barack Obama

263. “The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our view of our past.”

— Barack Obama

264. “We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions.”

— Barack Obama

265. “Let’s face it, Fox News, you’ll miss me when I’m gone. It’ll be harder to convince the public that Hillary Clinton was born in Kenya.”

— Barack Obama

266. “I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.”

— Barack Obama

267. “We need to eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.”

— Barack Obama

268. “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

— Barack Obama

269. “America is an unlikely place – a country built on defiance of the odds; on a belief in the impossible. And I remind you of this because as you set out to live your own stories of success and achievement, it’s now your turn to help keep it this way.”

— Barack Obama

270. “Nowhere is it ordained that history moves in a straight line.”

— Barack Obama

271. “I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.”

— Barack Obama

272. “Civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable. Surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith or, for that matter, my citizenship.”

— Barack Obama

273. “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.”

— Barack Obama

274. “Jesus lived a life of peace, love, kindness and forgiveness, during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, may we all do our best to follow his example.”

— Barack Obama

275. “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”

— Barack Obama

276. “Scripture tells us to run with endurance the race that is set before us. As we do, may God hold close those who have been taken from us too soon.”

— Barack Obama

277. “That is the true genius of America-a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles.”

— Barack Obama

278. “I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month.”

— Barack Obama

279. “What is the empathy deficit? The inability of people to stand in other folks shoes. It’s hard to empathize with people who have different values than you.”

— Barack Obama

280. “A nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”

— Barack Obama

281. “If poverty is a disease that infects the entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can’t just treat those symptoms in isolation. We have to heal that entire community.”

— Barack Obama

282. “We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.”

— Barack Obama

283. “Maybe you could be a great writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write that English paper – that English class paper that’s assigned to you.”

— Barack Obama

284. “We should raise the minimum wage so that no one who works full time has to live in poverty.”

— Barack Obama

285. “Instead of giving in to cynicism and division, let’s move forward with the confidence and optimism and unity that define us as a people.”

— Barack Obama

286. “The world doesn’t just revolve around you. There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit.”

— Barack Obama

287. “The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.”

— Barack Obama

288. “The cyber world is sort of the Wild, Wild West, and to some degree, we’re asked to be the sheriff.”

— Barack Obama

289. “It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation.”

— Barack Obama

290. “If you go out and make some things happen, you will fill the world with hope.”

— Barack Obama

291. “In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education.”

— Barack Obama

292. “Constitution is a living document; no strict constructionism.”

— Barack Obama

293. “On Easter or Christmas Day, my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.”

— Barack Obama

294. “While the future is unknowable, the winds always blow in the direction of human progress.”

— Barack Obama

295. “When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point.”

— Barack Obama

296. “Iran won’t pursue nuclear weapons because ‘it’s contrary to their faith.’”

— Barack Obama

297. “I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.”

— Barack Obama

298. “That’s the good thing about being President – I can do whatever I want.”

— Barack Obama

299. “We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year.”

— Barack Obama

300. “When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting. They’re not making a statement. They’re stealing. When they burn down a building, they’re committing arson.”

— Barack Obama