The name of Barack Obama has been widely known around the world for a few years now Lawyer and politician of the Democratic Party, he rose in politics to become a senator for the Democratic Party and finally managed in 2008 to become the first African-American president in the history of the United States of America.
Aside from his role as president of the United States and the multiple policies and initiatives that he has promoted (having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), he is known for being a great orator, who throughout his career has made interesting reflections on various topics such as equality or care for nature.
In this article we will see some of Barack Obama’s phrases that capture these reflections
This well-known phrase, popularized during the electoral campaign that would lead to his first election as president, reflects that it is possible to achieve and achieve change.
2. If you are willing to work hard and fulfill your responsibilities, you will be able to get ahead. It doesn’t matter where you come from, what you look like or who you love.
This phrase encourages you to be responsible for your own destiny and work hard to achieve our goals We should all have the same opportunities and rights regardless of our sex, race, sexual orientation, creed, socioeconomic status or appearance.
3. Our children will not have time to discuss climate change. They will only be able to live with its effects
These phrases warn of the need to take into account the conservation of the environment before it is too late.
4. Most problems I face sometimes involve a clash, not between good and evil, sometimes between two ways of understanding good.
Often the existence of conflicts is due to the incompatibility of what two parties consider to be good. It is not that one of them intends to do evil.
5. If you are successful, not only your countries are successful, the world is successful
Trying to achieve our dreams and ideals not only has a positive effect on us and our environment but generally benefits everyone.
6. Not talking to other countries does not make us look like tough people; it makes us look arrogant
Communication and collaborative work allow us to develop and grow. Acting alone and refusing to communicate with others only limits us and makes others not look at us with sympathy.
7. Hope is not blind optimism. It is not ignoring the enormous task ahead or the obstacles that lie in our path.
To have hope is not to deny difficulties, but to believe despite and above them.
8. A voice can change a room, and if it can change a room then it can change a city, and if it can change a city it can change a state, and if it can change a state it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation it can change the world. Your voice can change the world
Each and every act of each and every person can change the world. We are all valuable and can help the world improve.
9. We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape to achieve something better through concentrated and collective effort
This phrase encourages us not to fear the unknown and to have the hope of being able to shape events in such a way that we can evolve towards something better.
10. It has always been the bold, the most active, the builders of things (some recognized but mostly men and women whose efforts remain in the dark) who have propelled us on the long and arduous path to prosperity and freedom
This statement invites us to think about the need and worth of those who have dared to fight for what they believed to be right.
11. The future holds something better for us, as long as we have the courage to keep trying, keep working, keep fighting
Again, this phrase encourages us not to give up and continue fighting for our goals.
12. Progress will come in the form of adjustments and starts. It’s not always a straight line, it’s not always an easy path.
We must keep in mind that we are not always going to be moving forward. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back in order to take two steps forward, and progress will never be easy.
13. No authoritarian regime lasts forever
Authoritarianism and absolutism sooner or later end.
14. Faith does not mean that you do not have doubts
Doubting is not contrary to believing. In fact, doubts allow us test our beliefs and values I either reinforce them or modify them.
15. Peace is not only the absence of war, but also the presence of a better life
This phrase reflects that only the absence of conflict is not enough for there to be peace.
16. Nothing worthwhile in life comes easy
There is nothing that cannot be achieved without effort and sacrifice, especially when we talk about the things that really matter to us.
17. History shows that the desire for human freedom and dignity cannot be denied forever
The need to be free and be able to be who we are and fight for what we want ends up emerging regardless of whether censorship exists or not.
18. We have always understood that when times change we have to change ourselves.
We must be able to adapt to the circumstances of a dynamic and changing world, or we will remain stagnant.
19. Change is not going to come if we wait for someone else or wait for another time. We are the one we are waiting for. We are the change we want
Waiting for someone to fix things is not going to work. If we want things to change we must participate and be part of the change.
20. I never rule out any possibility in such a complex world
We must be open to all possibilities so that we can act in the best possible way or be prepared for any eventuality.
21. Greatness is never a gift. must be earned
If we want to develop to the maximum we must be able to make an effort and help us achieve our goals.
22. Those who stand up for justice always occupy the right side of history
Regardless of the opinion of the rest, whether or not it is the majority, we must fight for what we believe is fair.
23. Know that your people will judge you by what you can build, not by what you destroy
We must focus on building, on being a positive force for ourselves and those around us.
24. As long as there are walls in our hearts, we must strive to tear them down
The existence of barriers and intolerance only generates suffering and conflict. If we want a better society we must learn to be tolerant and fight for equality.
25. No union based on freedom and equality can survive half slave and half free
This phrase refers to the need for the slavery and subjugation of others to disappear if we want to have a truly egalitarian and free society.
26. No matter how responsibly we live, any of us can at any time suffer a layoff, a sudden illness, or our house being blown away by a terrible storm.
Misfortunes happen and they can happen to any of us regardless of what we are like.
27. Cynics will have the loudest voices, but I assure you that they will do the least.
Those who limit themselves to criticizing things may be numerous and highly noticeable, but when push comes to shove they usually contribute little to achieving real change.
28. We cannot confuse absolutism with principles, or replace spectacle with politics, or treat insults as a reasonable debate
These are very different concepts that unfortunately tend to be linked in practice, which we should not allow.
29. Regarding our common defense, we reject as false that we have to choose between our security and our ideals
It often seems to be thought that we must sacrifice our freedom if we want to obtain security. This does not have to be like this.
30. Our multiethnic heritage is a strength, not a weakness
Sharing and interacting with people from different cultures enriches us all and allows us to gain new and different perspectives on life, which makes us stronger and more adaptable.
31. Creating your brand in the world is difficult. If it were easy everyone would do it, but it isn’t. It requires patience, commitment and quite a few failures along the way.
Leaving a mark and changing things means persisting and not giving up or stopping fighting despite failures.
32. We are freer when everyone can aspire to their own happiness. We have to have economies that work for all citizens, not just those at the top
This phrase refers to the need to establish mechanisms that allow society to we can all access and have the same rights and possibilities
33. With hope and virtue, let us once again overcome the icy currents, and endure the storms that fall upon us.
Again, we are encouraged to be able to endure despite obstacles and difficulties.
34. The role of citizens in a democracy does not end with the vote
The citizen is part of society, and as such must be aware that he has both rights and responsibilities as such.
35. Hope is that force within us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, work for it, and fight for it.
Having hope implies believing that we will be able to achieve what we want despite being aware of the difficulties.
36. There has always been another way of doing politics, based on the simple idea that what happens to our neighbor should not be indifferent to us, on the basic notion that what unites us is much more important than what separates us, and in the conviction that if enough people really believe in this and live according to these precepts, it is possible that although we cannot solve all the problems, we can advance in important things
The notion that we are all equal and should care about what happens to our fellow human beings is essential if we are to overcome individuality and help grow our society.
37. I have learned that if a problem is easy, it should never reach my desk.
The problems that are really important are those that should concern us. Things that have an easy solution should not take up more time than necessary.
38. All people should be treated equally, no matter who they are or who they love.
We should all be treated equally.
39. We have to work together at the level of people, teachers, doctors, students, businessmen, religious leaders, all trying to promote values of dignity, humanity, respect, which are frequently threatened
We must all contribute to try to improve the world
40. Your generation will determine the course of our future, as individual nations and as a global community
The new generations are the ones who will inherit our legacy and build the future.
41. We have been told that we cannot do this for a chorus of
cynics who will only become louder and more dissonant
During the 2008 election campaign, Obama did not hesitate to point out those agents who would try to hinder change in every way possible.
42. We know that the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way
Obama’s electoral victory seemed impossible until an entire country rallied together to achieve change.
43. It is important to note that I was already black before the elections.
Obama was subjected throughout his entire mandate to truly relentless scrutiny by the media, something he always knew how to overcome with good humor.
44. A president who chose the moon as our new frontier;
And a King who took us to the top of the mountain and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Fragment of one of his most memorable speeches during his 2008 election campaign.
45. I don’t know exactly what makes someone ready to be president. It’s not clear that JFK was “ready” to be president, it’s not clear that Harry Truman, when he was promoted, was “ready,” and yet somehow some people respond and some people don’t.
After being elected president, Obama was subjected to great pressure and also strong criticism from some conservative media.
46. The hopes of the girl who goes to a crumbling
school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the child who learns on the streets of Los Angeles
Obama’s 2008 election campaign is remembered as one of the best in US history and his slogans continue to be studied in universities around the world.
47. Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions
of voices calling for change
The need for change was one of the main themes on which his 2008 election campaign was developed.
48. We did not come to fear the future, we came to shape it
Without a doubt, many of Obama’s phrases can inspire us at various moments in our lives.
49. We want a change!
His campaign slogans were so popular that they have remained engraved in the collective imagination of American society.
50. And together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; From sea to shining sea – Yes. We. Dog
There is no doubt that both Obama’s oratory skills and his political charisma were key elements in his electoral victory.
51. Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference
Many of Obama’s phrases are truly humorous but contain an unquestionable truth.
52. We will remember that there is something happening in America; That we are not as divided as our politics suggests; That we are one people; We are one nation
Hope, change and the recovery of national unity were other essential pillars on which he based his electoral campaign.
53. We don’t turn around. We leave no one behind. We lift each other up
Fixing a country in crisis and solving social inequalities were some of his electoral promises.
54. The American people have given me this extraordinary honor and that says a lot about the type of country ours is.
Barack Obama was always grateful to have been elected president.
55. There is no excuse not to try
Their phrases and slogans emphasize hope and trying with all our might until we achieve anything.
56. We have been asked to pause for a reality check. We have been warned not to offer false hope to the people of this nation. But in America’s improbable history, there has never been anything false about hope. We want a change!
The decisive commitment to hope and the possibility of achieving real change were some of the factors that gave him victory in 2008.
57. When a president tries to bring significant change, particularly in times of economic crisis, there is a certain segment of the population that becomes upset
In this sentence he tells us about the conservative media, which exercised truly relentless criticism throughout his entire mandate.
58. My fellow citizens, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We too were strangers once.
The United States managed to be the leading power in the world thanks to the work of millions of immigrants who built the country over several centuries.
59. Nobody is “pro-abortion”
Abortion is a true social drama, a situation that no one would want to go through in their life.
60. I mean, I think there comes a point where you’ve made enough money.
Obama was always opposed to the greed promoted by the system and unhesitatingly denounced all the injustices in his country.
61. We can’t drive around in our vans and eat all we want and keep our homes at 22 degrees at all times… and then expect other countries to say it’s okay. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.
With Obama, the roadmap to save climate change on the planet began.
62. You can say what you want about Donald Trump but he will surely bring changes to the White House
During the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Obama made some jokes at the expense of Donald Trump, who years later would also become president.
63. People say I am arrogant and distant. Some people are so stupid
Obama’s humorous side may be the least known, but during his term he left us truly hilarious phrases.
64. I had a friend, just a few weeks ago, she was making millions of dollars a year and now she lives in a van in Iowa.
Joke he told at a Correspondents’ Dinner referring to Hillary Clinton.
65. Tonight, for the first time I will show my birth video
One of the many jokes Obama made during his appearances at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
66. I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to generate changes, but in yours.
Obama made it clear from the beginning that change would only be possible with the majority will of Americans.
67. Michelle and I are so touched by all the well wishes we have received over the past few weeks. But tonight, it’s my turn to say thank you.
Fragment extracted from one of his last speeches as president in 2017.
68. Obviously, I couldn’t have done anything I’ve done without Michelle…not only has she been a great first lady, but she is my rock.
Whenever he can, Obama dedicates a few words of love and appreciation to his wife.
69. There is no doubt that I am a better man after spending time with Michelle. I would never say that Michelle is a better woman, but I will say that she is a little more patient.
Throughout his career, he always recognized how important Michelle’s support was to him.
70. If you look deep into her eyes, there’s a certain vulnerability
Some of the words Obama dedicated to the First Lady are truly beautiful.
