“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.”

Reading is important. If you know how to read then the whole world opens up to you

Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important.

One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world.

Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

Persevere. Nothing worthwhile is easy.

I want every young man who sees me to know that I’m not that different from them. I wasn’t born into wealth. I wasn’t born into fame. I made a lot of mistakes – but I kept at it.

A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.

A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.

If you’re a strong man, you should not feel threatened by strong women.

We are the change we have been waiting for.

What makes you a man is not the ability to make a child, it’s the courage to raise one.

Love and hope can conquer hate.

To be black was to be the beneficiary of a great inheritance, a special destiny, glorious burdens that only we were strong enough to bear.

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

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

Together we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Give your employees a mission that matches their ambitions. When you challenge people, they surprise you.

Your company should act as a springboard for ambitious employees, not a set of shackles.

I’m certainly not aware of suppressing more sophisticated ambitions.

Throughout my lifetime I’ve left pieces of my heart here and there. And now, there’s almost barely enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent.