“While we breathe, we will hope.”

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.

There is no excuse for not trying.

Each of us deserves the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness. No one deserves to be bullied.

The opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.

Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

When times get tough, we don’t give up. We get up.

The future must not belong to those who bully women. It must be shaped by girls who go to school and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up.

Yes We Can!

Hope – Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

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.

It is moments like these that force us to try harder, and dig deeper, and to discover gifts we never knew we had – to find the greatness that lies within each of us.

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.