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Quotes by First-lady
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
79
"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence."
43
"I had 3 brothers, 2 died early, and one of them was living a good long time."
41
"You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."
39
"Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again."
33
"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."
32
"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."
32
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect."
31
"Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both."
31
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.'"
31
"I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious to advance the political career of my husband."
31
"The first time you marry for love, the second for money, and the third for companionship."
30
"Bias has to be taught. If you hear your parents downgrading women or people of different backgrounds, why, you are going to do that."
29
"Dear God, please take care of your servant John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
28
"We are coming back just four years from today."
28
"I think somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision."
28
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction."
27
"I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision."
27
"I want minimum information given with maximum politeness."
26
"Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them."
25
"And now, dear sister, I must leave this house or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am directed to take."
25
"I won't lock my doors or bar them either if any of the old coots in the pictures out in the hall want to come out of their frames for a friendly chat."
24
"You can never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you've become yourself."
23
"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall."
Bed,
22
"I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation."
22
"If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities."
22
"If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women."
22
"Whenever I was upset by something in the papers, Jack always told me to be more tolerant, like a horse flicking away flies in the summer."
22
"Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth."
22
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one."
22
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
21
"It is not more vacation we need - it is more vocation."
21
"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."
21
"To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there."
20
"You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk."
20
"You don't just luck into things as much as you would like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it is friendships or opportunities."
Luck,
19
"The independent girl is a person before whose wrath only the most rash dare stand, and, they, it must be confessed, with much fear and trembling."
19
"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility."
19
"One thing I can say about George... he may not be able to keep a job, but he's not boring."
19
"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life."
19
"A little of what you call frippery is very necessary towards looking like the rest of the world."
19
"Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way."
19
"Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others."
19
"Believe in something larger than yourself... get involved in the big ideas of your time."
19
"Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice."
19
"Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it."
19
"And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation."
18
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