QUOTES
AIDS
If
condoms and potentially microbicides can prevent millions of deaths [from AIDS],
they should be made more widely available. I know that there are those who, out
of sincere religious conviction, oppose such measures. And with these folks, I
must respectfully but unequivocally disagree. I do not accept the notion that
those who make mistakes in their lives should be given an effective death sentence.
Nor am I willing to stand by and allow those who are entirely innocent -- wives
who, because of the culture they live in, often have no power to refuse sex with
their husbands, or children who are born with the infection as a consequence of
their parent's behavior -- suffer when condoms or other measures would have kept
them from harm.
Like
no other illness, AIDS tests our ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes
-- to empathize with the plight of our fellow man. While most would agree that
the AIDS orphan or the transfusion victim or the wronged wife contracted the disease
through no fault of their own, it has too often been easy for some to point to
the unfaithful husband or the promiscuous youth or the gay man and say "This is
your fault. You have sinned." I don't think that's a satisfactory response. My
faith reminds me that we all are sinners.
BetterWorld
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.
It
took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have
just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we
leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.
Nothing
can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We
have to acknowledge the progress we made, but understand that we still have a
long way to go. That things are better, but still not good enough.
YES
WE CAN!
Citizenship
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.
Civil
Rights
We need not throw away 200 years of American jurisprudence while
we fight terrorism. We need not choose between our most deeply held values, and
keeping this nation safe.
Disarmament
I
believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say
so in the face of the gun manfuacturer's lobby. But I also believe that when a
gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone disrespected
him, we have a problem of morality. Not only do we need to punish that man for
his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there's a hole in his heart, one that
government programs alone may not be able to repair.
Diversity
There
is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States
of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America
and asian America - there's the United States of America.
We
have a stake in one another ... what binds us together is greater than what drives
us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and
act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful
done for the people with whom we share this Earth.
We
will remember that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are
one people; we are one nation and together, we will begin the next great chapter
in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from
sea to shining sea:-- Yes. We. Can.
Economy
we've
got a lot of work to do economically in this country to bring about a more just
and fair economy.
Education
We
have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our
schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the
will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.
Family
Of
all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family
is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every
father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors
and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push
us toward it. But if we are honest with ourselves, we'll admit that what too many
fathers also are is missing – missing from too many lives and too many homes.
They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And
the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.
Freedom
Today
we are engaged in a deadly global struggle with those who would intimidate, torture,
and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this
struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed
in a true direction.
Global
Climate Change
All across the world, in every kind of environment and region
known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are
abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate
change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise
to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.
Government
If
the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to
protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.
Health
Care
I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify
or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we
lose. For it's precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy
and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from
finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country. It's what keeps
us locked in "either/or" thinking: the notion that we can only have big government
or no government; the assumption that we must either tolerate forty-six million
without health insurance or embrace "socialized medicine."
Hope
Hope
is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written
for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for
the world as it is; who have courage to remake the world as it should be.
Hope
-- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity
of hope!
Living
a Life of Compassion
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a
certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only
when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your
true potential.
No
Nukes
The single biggest threat that we face is a nuclear weapon or some
weapon of mass destruction. What that means is that we have to be extraordinarily
aggressive and vigilant in controlling nuclear proliferation.
Patriotism
There
are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported
the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars
and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
Peace
In
an interconnected world, the defeat of international terrorism – and most importantly,
the prevention of these terrorist organizations from obtaining weapons of mass
destruction -- will require the cooperation of many nations. We must always reserve
the right to strike unilaterally at terrorists wherever they may exist. But we
should know that our success in doing so is enhanced by engaging our allies so
that we receive the crucial diplomatic, military, intelligence, and financial
support that can lighten our load and add legitimacy to our actions. This means
talking to our friends and, at times, even our enemies.
Perseverance
If
you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually
you'll make progress.
Making
your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's
not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure
along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you
won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you
learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
Politics
People
are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called
to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn
politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.
Poverty
"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."
Racism
Our
goal is to have a country that's not divided by race. And my impression, as I
travel around the country, is that that's the kind of country that most people
want, as well, and that we all have prejudice, we all have certain suspicions
or stereotypes about people who are different from us, whether it's religious
or racial or ethnic, but what I think I found in the American people, I think
there's a core decency there, where if they take the time, if they get the time
to know individuals, then they want to judge those individuals by their character.
Spirituality
I
was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against
death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world.
Faith
is not just something you have, it's something you do.
Tolerance
My
parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the
possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed,
believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.
Volunteering
You
know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think
we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in
someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different
from us - the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family
who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When
you think like this - when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize
with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers
- it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.
More
Quotes
I
will never forget that the only reason I'm standing here today is because somebody,
somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood
up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood
up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing
up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.
