Barack Obama Quotes

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

People say America is exceptional. I agree, but it's not the complexion of our skin or the twists in our DNA that make us unique. America is exceptional because we were founded upon the notion that everyone should be free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

The United States exists as a sovereign nation. 'America,' in contrast, exists as a myth of democracy and equal opportunity to live by, or as an ideal goal to reach.

Democracy rests upon two pillars: one, the principle that all men are equally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the other, the conviction that such equal opportunity will most advance civilization.

The Declaration calls us to recognize the inherent equality of all people. And when it becomes unmistakably evident that a government is denying the governed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it's the right of people to establish a new government to secure these unalienable rights.

America, to me, is freedom.

I have grown up in the bright light of America.

The American Dream is about freedom.

The American dream is about freedom.

America stands for the land of opportunity.

When I was growing up, I don't remember being told that America was created so that everyone could get rich. I remember being told it was about opportunity and the pursuit of happiness. Not happiness itself, but the pursuit.

We have a long heritage of freedom that defines America. We believe there is a Creator who blessed us with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I guess you could say I'm what this country is all about.

This is what America is about when it comes to understanding that it is equal opportunity versus equal achievement. Each and every one of us has the opportunity for greatness in this country.

There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream.

I have said that in their right to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals.

I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.--

This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.

The most powerful idea in the modern world: All men are created equal.

I believe in the ideals of America, in liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness.

Americans are defined by a history of immigration in pursuit of freedom and opportunity. We are more individualistic, enterprising, and protective of liberties that most Europeans do not expect, such as owning guns, working 70-hour weeks, or appreciating nature as it goes by at 60 mph on a snowmobile.

There is a fundamental notion at the core of American identity that, in this country, any little boy or girl can grow up to be president.

They talk about the American Dream. I still believe in that. I still believe that this is a great country, where great things can happen, where anybody can become president of the United States. Just that simple statement there defines so much about the whole business of liberty and freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

America is the land of freedom and that’s the way I enjoy living.

Democracy is that form of society, no matter what its political classification, in which every man has a chance and knows that he has it.