Michelle Obama quotes are one of the most searched quotes when it comes to strong women leadership. Women across the world admire Michelle Obama for her strong personality.
Born on January 17, 1964, Michelle Obama is an American lawyer and author who was the first lady of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. With her excellent speaking skills, she directs the young generation, especially women to get education and be independent. Michelle wrote several books like Becoming, American Grown, Farewell speeches, Believe in the possibility, A year of mindful living, etc. ‘Becoming’ is the most popular book and it sold 15M copies worldwide.
Here is a list of 50 Michelle Obama quotes:
Michelle Obama quotes on education
- “You have to stay in school. You have to. You have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that’s the one thing people can’t take away from you is your education. And it is worth the investment.”
- “Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.”
- “There is no boy, at this age, cute enough or interesting enough to stop you from getting an education, If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn’t be married to the President of the United States.”
- “Now that I’m an adult, I realize that kids know at a very young age when they’re being devalued, when adults aren’t invested enough to help them learn. Their anger over it can manifest itself as unruliness. It’s hardly their fault. They aren’t “bad kids.” They’re just trying to survive bad circumstances.”
- “His money went largely toward books, which to him were like sacred objects, providing ballast for his mind.”
- “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.”
Michelle Obama quotes on women empowerment
- “Let’s be very clear: Strong men – men who are truly role models – don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.”
- “Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses… swapped back and forth and over again.”
- “I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.”
- “Women endure entire lifetimes of these indignities—in the form of catcalls, groping, assault, oppression. These things injure us. They sap our strength. Some of the cuts are so small they’re barely visible. Others are huge and gaping, leaving scars that never heal. Either way, they accumulate. We carry them everywhere, to and from school and work, at home while raising our children, at our places of worship, anytime we try to advance.”
- “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?”
- “When I get up and work out, I’m working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It’s just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.”
Michelle Obama quotes on life values
- “Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?”
- “We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.”
- “You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.”
- “One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”
- “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.”
- “Find people who will make you better.”
- “You don’t have to be somebody different to be important. You’re important in your own right.”
- “Choose people who lift you up.”
- “Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.”
- “The lesson being that in life you control what you can.”
- “You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.”
- “We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.”
- “And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you’re going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.”
- “When they go low, we go high.”
- “Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with.”
- “It hurts to live after someone has died. It just does. It can hurt to walk down a hallway or open the fridge. It hurts to put on a pair of socks, to brush your teeth. Food tastes like nothing. Colors go flat. Music hurts, and so do memories. You look at something you’d otherwise find beautiful—a purple sky at sunset or a playground full of kids—and it only somehow deepens the loss. Grief is so lonely this way.”
- “We should always have three friends in our lives-one who walks ahead who we look up to and follow; one who walks beside us, who is with us every step of our journey; and then, one who we reach back for and bring along after we’ve cleared the way.”
- “At fifty-four, I am still in progress, and I hope that I always will be.”
- “We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.”
Michelle Obama quotes on success
- “Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.”
- “If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.”
- “I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.”
- “The one way to get me to work my hardest was to doubt me.”
- “Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It’s vulnerability that breeds with self-doubt and then is escalated, often deliberately, by fear.”
- “Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.”
- “We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make… that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.”
- “At the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.”
- “I’ve seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.”
- “Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”
- “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.”
- “Hearing them, I realized that they weren’t at all smarter than the rest of us. They were simply emboldened, floating on an ancient tide of superiority, buoyed by the fact that history had never told them anything different.”
- “For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally: Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.”
Michelle Obama quotes on history
- “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”
- “There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.”
- “Even if we didn’t know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed. Everyone on earth, they’d tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance.”
Michelle Obama quotes – Based on ‘Becoming’
- “If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.”
- “Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?”
- “Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”
Michelle Obama is a smart, intelligent, and brave female leader. Her writing skills will inspire every individual. Our 50 Michelle Obama quotes will help you introduce about her thoughts.
Also Read: Melinda Gates Quotes on Philanthropy and Women Empowerment
