For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.
MICHELLE OBAMAI grew up with a disabled dad in a too-small house with not much money in a starting-to-fail neighborhood, and I also grew up surrounded by love and music in a diverse city in a country where an education can take you far. I had nothing or I had everything. It depends on which way you want to tell it.
More Michelle Obama Quotes
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Inspiration on its own was shallow; you had to back it up with hard work.
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Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.
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Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses, swapped back and forth and over again.
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America, our moment is now, Barack said. Our moment is now.
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I hate diversity workshops. Real change comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable.
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And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.
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The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.
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The noise doesn’t go away, but the most successful people I know have figured out how to live with it, to lean on the people who believe in them, and to push onward with their goals.
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What I notice about men, all men, is that their order is me, my family, God is in there somewhere, but me is first.
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It’s remarkable how a stereotype functions as an actual trap. How many angry black women have been caught in the circular logic of that phrase? When you aren’t being listened to, why wouldn’t you get louder? If you’re written off as angry or emotional, doesn’t that just cause more of the same?
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I grew up with a disabled dad in a too-small house with not much money in a starting-to-fail neighborhood, and I also grew up surrounded by love and music in a diverse city in a country where an education can take you far. I had nothing or I had everything. It depends on which way you want to tell it.
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I’ve smiled for photos with people who call my husband horrible names on national television, but still want a framed keepsake for their mantel.
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My daughters are the heart of my heart and the center of my world.
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I’ve learned that it’s harder to hate up close.
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The punches hurt, even if I understood that they had little to do with who I really was as a person.
MICHELLE OBAMA