We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line. Don't forget it.

In this world, emotion has become suspect - the accepted style is smooth, antiseptic and passionless.

If I don't run for president, we'll all be OK.

You never make fun of anybody with a club foot or a withered arm, but it's open season on anybody who stutters.

Unions did in fact build the middle class. And here's what that did. That built the United States of America as we know it.

Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend. She is qualified to be President of the United States of America. She's easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America.

The 21st century is going to be the American century. Because we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. That is the history of the journey of America.

For any young democracy, the most difficult but important step is burying the legacy of tyranny and establishing an economy and a government and institutions that abide by the rule of law. Every country faces challenges to the rule of law, including my own.

I exaggerate when I'm angry, but I've never gone around telling people things that aren't true about me.

For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.

No one ever doubts that I mean what I say. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean.

Corruption is just another form of tyranny.

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it's funny. And it's not funny. It's not.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

In my heart, I'm confident I could make a good president.

My dad used to have an expression - 'It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.'

Let's just be smart this time. I'm looking for smart.

When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'

Here at home, when Americans were standing in long lines to give blood after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we squandered an obvious opportunity to make service a noble cause again, and rekindle an American spirit of community.

We didn't crumble after 9/11. We didn't falter after the Boston Marathon. But we're America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism.

Reality has a way of intruding. Reality eventually intrudes on everything.

No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It's because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand - demand - demand change.

The greatest gift is the ability to forget - to forget the bad things and focus on the good.