“On every continent, there are girls who will go on to change the world in ways we can only imagine, if only we allow them the freedom to dream.”

In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a prerequisite.

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

I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago

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

We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it’s easy, but when it is hard.

If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.

A child’s course in life should be determined not by the zip code she’s born in, but by the strength of her work ethic and the scope of her dreams.

The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer.

History doesn’t always move in a straight line. Sometimes it zigs and zags.

A nation that can’t control its energy sources can’t control its future.

It’s important to make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank accounts, that drives our democracy.

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

In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.

While we breathe, we will hope.

We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished.

When my husband Edgar and I were courting, he said he couldn’t wait to have a baby. It was only after we were married that he changed his mind and decided that I should have the baby.

I definitely feel there’s room for improvement.

It doesn’t need to be the same every day, doesn’t need to be the same shower I use, the same restaurant I go to, the same hour I go to sleep. I’ve always been very flexible. I don’t care if I practice at nine in the morning or 10 P.M.

I know how bad Albany is. I know it better than most. I understand why people are angry. I’m angry. The question is going to be, how do you change Albany, what is the plan for change, and then how do you actually get it done?

But I really believe that when you give people authentic identity, which is what Facebook does, and you can be your real self and connect with real people online, things will change.

The only thing in the world you can change is yourself and that makes all the difference in the world.

The fact that we define ourselves by our roles can be an admirable thing – it’s how we build a life and make a living. But it’s also precarious. Roles change. Sometimes overnight.