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We Don't Need New Discoveries Or New Inventions To Reverse This Trend. We Have The Tools At Our Disposal To Reverse It. All We Need Is The Motivation, The Opportunity And The Willpower To Do What Needs To Be Done. ...with This Report, We Have A Very Solid Road Map That We Need To Make These Goals Real, To Solve This Problem Within A Generation.

-Michelle Obama

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We Don't Need New

Michelle Obama

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We Don't Need New Discoveries Or New Inventions To Reverse This Trend. We Have The Tools At Our Disposal To Reverse It. All We Need Is The Motivation, The Opportunity And The Willpower To Do What Needs To Be Done. ...with This Report, We Have A Very Solid Road Map That We Need To Make These Goals Real, To Solve This Problem Within A Generation.

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Good Relationships Feel Good. They Feel Right. They Don't Hurt.

Good Relationship

Style Helps Distinguish You . . . It's A Great Potential Opportunity That People Tend To Leave By The Wayside

There's No Expert On This Planet Who Says That The Government Telling People What To Do Actually Does Any Good With This Issue, This Is Going To Require An Effort On Everyone's Part.

Treat People With Dignity And Respect.

That's The Advice I Would Give To Women: Don't Look At The Bankbook Or The Title. Look At The Heart. Look At The Soul. Look At How The Guy Treats His Mother And What He Says About Women. How He Acts With Children He Doesn't Know. And, More Important, How Does He Treat You? When You're Dating A Man, You Should Always Feel Good. You Should Never Feel Less Than. You Should Never Doubt Yourself.

I Mean, Let's Take The Average Spouse. You Know, You Show Up In An Employer's, You Know, Office, And It's Shown That You've Changed Jobs Every Two Years. Well, To Many Employers That Could Be Viewed As A Red Flag. But The Truth Is, Is That You've Made Those Moves Because You're Serving Your Country, And Each Time You've Found A Career, And You've Been Able To Provide For Your Family, And You've Continued To Volunteer, And On And On And On.

As Always, Many Of Our Troops Are Far From Home This [christmas] Time Of Year, And Their Families Are Serving And Sacrificing Right Along With Them. Their Courage And Dedication Allow The Rest Of Us To Enjoy This Season. That's Why We've Tried To Serve Them As Well As They've Served This Country.

Don't Let Anyone Speak For You, And Don't Rely On Others To Fight For You.

I Love French Fries, I Like A Good Burger, And I Like Pie. And That's Okay. I Would Be Depressed If I Felt I Could Never Eat The Things That I Love. I Also Don't Want My Girls To Be Obsessed About Food. We Don't Have A "no Junk Food" Rule - I Just Want Them To Think About Their Choices.

Ultimately This Issue Is On Us. We're The Ones Who Make The Decisions About What Our Kids Eat.

Let Girls Learn Issue Has Always Been Personal For Me. I Grew Up In A Working-class Neighborhood On The South Side Of Chicago Where Most Folks, Including My Parents, Didn't Have College Degrees. But With A Lot Of Hard Work - And A Lot Of Financial Aid - I Had The Chance To Attend Princeton And Harvard Law School, And That Gave Me The Confidence To Pursue My Ambitions.

The Issues Facing Working Women And Their Families Are Closest To My Heart. I Decided To Focus Intently On The Challenges Military Wives Face Because They Juggle The Same Pressures As Their Nonmilitary Peers, All While Coping As Single Parents While Their Loved Ones Are Overseas. I Wanted To Help Make Their Voices Heard.

Always Stay True To Yourself And Never Let What Somebody Says Distract You From Your Goals.

Stay True To Yourself

I Have The Privilege Of Working On The Issues That I Choose And The Issues That I Feel Most Passionate About. It's Been A Privilege.

We're All Bombarded With So Many Dietary Messages That It's Hard To Find Time To Sort Through All This Information, But We Do Have Time To Take A Look At Our Kids' Plates.

I Always Encourage People To Start In Their Own Personal Universe, Because Sometimes We As Parents Start Thinking About The Big Picture. How Do I Change What's Happening In My Entire School? And How Do I Do It In My Community? And Then You Get Overwhelmed And It's Just Like, "forget It, I'll Just Stay Here In My Kitchen And Wait." But, Start Small.

My Experiences At Princeton Have Made Me Far More Aware Of My 'blackness' Than Ever Before. I Have Found That At Princeton, No Matter How Liberal And Open-minded Some Of My White Professors And Classmates Try To Be Toward Me, I Sometimes Feel Like A Visitor On Campus; As If I Really Don't Belong.

My First Job In All Honesty Is Going To Continue To Be Mom-in-chief. Making Sure That In This Transition, Which Will Be Even More Of A Transition For The Girls... That They Are Settled And That They Know They Will Continue To Be The Center Of Our Universe.

There Is Nothing More Important To This Nation's Future Than Investing In Our Young People.

I Was Blessed Throughout My Entire Career. I Had People Rooting For Me. It Started With My Parents, But It Extended To Almost Every Teacher That I Had. Even When I Was A Young Lawyer, There Were Other Women And Men In The Firm Who Took Me Under Their Wing.

We Were So Young, So In Love, And So In Debt.

Parents Have A Right To Expect That Their Efforts At Home Won't Be Undone Each Day In The School Cafeteria Or In The Vending Machine In The Hallway. ...parents Have A Right To Expect That Their Kids Will Be Served Fresh, Healthy Food That Meets High Nutritional Standards.

The Arts Can Enrich All Of Us In This Nation As Individuals. The Arts Can Enrich All Of Our Communities And The Country. And The Arts Can Connect Us To Each Other Like Nothing Else Can.

I'm Varying My Workouts So It's Not Just Cardio But Also Includes Moves To Maintain My Flexibility.

Barack And I Were Both Raised By Families Who Didn't Have Much In The Way Of Money Or Material Possessions But Who Had Given Us Something Far More Valuable - Their Unconditional Love, Their Unflinching Sacrifice, And The Chance To Go Places They Had Never Imagined For Themselves.

Unconditional Love

If Proud Americans Can Be Who They Are And Boldly Stand At The Altar With Who They Love Then Surely, Surely We Can Give Everyone In This Country A Fair Chance At That Great American Dream.

Our Kids Didn't Do This To Themselves. They Don't Decide The Sugar Content In Soda Or The Advertising Content Of A Television Show. Kids Don't Choose What's Served To Them For Lunch At School, And Shouldn't Be Deciding What's Served To Them For Dinner At Home. And They Don't Decide Whether There's Time In The Day Or Room In The Budget To Learn About Healthy Eating Or To Spend Time Playing Outside.

My Children Are Very Blessed.... That's Why I Think That Mentoring Is Such A Critical Part Of The Role I Can Play In This Position. I See How Little Bits Of Exposure And Big Bits Of Exposure Really Change My Girls Significantly, And I Want That For More Girls Around The Country And The World.

This Year, 1.7 Million Young People Will Be Participating In Olympic And Paralympic Sports In Their Communities-many Of Them For The Very First Time. And That Is So Important, Because Sometimes All It Takes Is That First Lesson, Or Clinic, Or Class To Get A Child Excited About A New Sport. This Summer, Together With Our Children, We Can Support Team Usa Not Just By Cheering Them On, But By Striving To Live Up To The Example They Set.

I Like To Talk About My Obsession With French Fries Because I Don't Want People To Think That 'let's Move' Is About Complete, Utter Deprivation. It's About Moderation And Real-life Changes And Ideas That Really Work For Families.

The Work-life Balance Is A Harsh Reality For So Many Women, Who Are Forced Every Day To Make Impossible Choices. Do They Take Their Kids To The Doctor...and Risk Getting Fired? Do They Work Weekends So They Can Afford To Send Their Kids To Better Childcare...even Though It Means Even Less Time With Their Families? Do They Take Another Shift At Work, So They Can Pay For Piano Lessons For Their Kids...even Though It Means They Have To Stop Volunteering For The Pta? It Just Shouldn't Be This Difficult To Raise Healthy Families.

Women And Girls Can Do Whatever They Want. There Is No Limit To What We As Women Can Accomplish.

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.

Women In Particular Need To Keep An Eye On Their Physical And Mental Health, Because If We're Scurrying To And From Appointments And Errands, We Don't Have A Lot Of Time To Take Care Of Ourselves. We Need To Do A Better Job Of Putting Ourselves Higher On Our Own 'to Do' List.

For Me Exercise Is More Than Just Physical, It’s Therapeutic.

New Years Resolution

I Have A Very Eclectic Ipod. So I've Got My Cardio People - So It's Anything From Beyonce To Some Jay-z To Janelle Monae, Her Song 'tightrope,' That's A Good Cardio Song. And Then I've Got Sting. I've Got Mary J. Blige. I've Got The Beatles. I've Got Michael Jackson. I Try To Pick The Songs That I Personally Love.

Kids Who Participate In School Meal Programs Get Roughly Half Of Their Calories Each Day At School. ... This Is An Extraordinary Responsibility. But It's Also An Opportunity. And It's Why One Of The Single Most Important Things We Can Do To Fight Childhood Obesity Is To Make Those Meals At School As Healthy And Nutritious As Possible.

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.

Not Everybody Is Going To Run A Marathon Or Do A Triathlon. It's Not Necessary To Do That To Be In Good Health.

I Tell This To My Girls All The Time: This Journey We're On Is A Once - In - A - Lifetime Opportunity.

I Mean, Hope Doesn't Get Actualized In Three And A Half Years. If That Were The Case, We'd Be Out Of Luck As A Country.

It Wasn't So Long Ago That I Was A Working Mom Myself. And I Know That Sometimes, Much As We All Hate To Admit It, It's Just Easier To Park The Kids In Front Of The Tv For A Few Hours, So We Can Pay The Bills Or Do The Laundry Or Just Have Some Peace And Quiet For A Change.

Childhood Obesity Isn't Some Simple, Discrete Issue. There's No One Cause We Can Pinpoint. There's No One Program We Can Fund To Make It Go Away. Rather, It's An Issue That Touches On Every Aspect Of How We Live And How We Work.

Fashion Is About So Much More Than Just A Pretty Pair Of Pumps Or The Perfect Hemline. For So Many People Across The Country, It Is A Calling, It Is A Career, And It's A Way They Feed Their Families.

For Me, As A Mother, I Am Just, You Know, I Just Can't Put Into Words How Important It Is For Every American, For Every Mother, For Every Person In This Country, To Have Healthcare.

First And Foremost, I Wear What I Love. That's What Women Have To Focus On: What Makes Them Happy And What Makes Them Feel Comfortable And Beautiful. If I Can Have Any Impact, I Want Women To Feel Good About Themselves And Have Fun With Fashion.

The Problem Is When That Fun Stuff Becomes The Habit. And I Think That's What's Happened In Our Culture. Fast Food Has Become The Everyday Meal.

I Don't, As My Mom Would Say, Sweat The Small Stuff In Our Relationship. Because When I Think Of Day-to-day Irritations That You Might Have With The One You Love, They're Nothing Compared To The Bigger Task At Hand.

To Be Able To Do It In The Warmth And - Of The White House And To Do It Around People Who Do Care About My Kids In A Country That Has Been Respectful Of My Children And Their Privacy, It Has Been Less Stressful Than I Would Have Imagined For Me.

Every Girl, No Matter Where She Lives, Deserves The Opportunity To Develop The Promise Inside Of Her.

I Look At How My Kids View Exercise. They Have A Complete Understanding That Nutrition And Exercise Go Hand In Hand. I Didn't Think Like That When I Was A Kid. But They Have A Real Consciousness About It That I'd Like To Think Comes From The Years Of Attention We've Put Into This.

I Want To Send A Very Clear Message To The Men And Women Who Are Wearing - Or Who Have Worn - Our Country's Uniform And To Their Spouses: When You Have Finished Your Service To Our Nation, You've Got 2,000 Great American Companies Ready And Waiting To Bring You On Board

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.

The End Of The Day

In Our House We Don't Take Ourselves Too Seriously, And Laughter Is The Best Form Of Unity, I Think, In A Marriage.

People Are Always Going To Have Opinions, And People Have A Right To Their Opinions.

Just Keep Focusing On The Work That You're Doing. Focus On What's In Front Of You Today. And Don't Read The Papers, Just Go Campaign. Just Do Your Thing. Talk To People Directly

Being President Isn't Anything Like Reality Tv.

African American Children Are Significantly More Likely To Be Obese Than Are White Children. Nearly Half Of African American Children Will Develop Diabetes At Some Point In Their Lives. People, That's Half Of Our Children. ...we Can Build Our Kids The Best Schools On Earth, But If They Don't Have The Basic Nutrition They Need To Concentrate, They're Still Going To Have A Challenge Learning.

Do Not Die In The History Of Your Past Hurts And Past Experiences, But Live In The Now And Future Of Your Destiny.

It's Been So Important That The Chamber Of Commerce, For Example, Has Hosted Hiring Fairs That Are Specifically Targeted To Military Communities.

No Matter Who You Are, No Matter Where You Come From, You Are Beautiful.

Fruits And Vegetables For Some Kids Are Scary And Not Fun.

This Is Really What The White House Is All About. It’s The “people’s House.” It’s A Place That Is Steeped In History, But It’s Also A Place Where Everyone Should Feel Welcome. And That's Why My Husband And I Have Made It Our Mission To Open Up The House To As Many People As We Can.

Whether You Come From A Council Estate Or A Country Estate, Your Success Will Be Determined By Your Own Confidence And Fortitude.

African American

There Are Still Many Causes Worth Sacrificing For, So Much History Yet To Be Made.

I Come Here Tonight As A Sister, Blessed With A Brother Who Is My Mentor, My Protector And My Lifelong Friend. And I Come Here As A Wife Who Loves My Husband And Believes He Will Be An Extraordinary President.

Selfishly, Working With Kids Gives Me Joy - It Makes Me Feel Like My Life Has A Purpose. And I Thought, Imagine What We Can Do In The White House, Particularly With The Kids In The D.c. Area, Many Of Whom Have Never Set Foot On The White House Lawn.

I Tell My Kids, 'i Am Thinking About You Every Other Minute Of My Day.'

And I Love That Even In The Toughest Moments, When We're All Sweating It - When We're Worried That The Bill Won't Pass, And It Seems Like All Is Lost - Barack Never Lets Himself Get Distracted By The Chatter And The Noise. Just Like His Grandmother, He Just Keeps Getting Up And Moving Forward... With Patience And Wisdom, And Courage And Grace.

Our Life Before Moving To Washington Was Filled With Simple Joys...saturdays At Soccer Games, Sundays At Grandma's House...and A Date Night For Barack And Me Was Either Dinner Or A Movie, Because As An Exhausted Mom, I Couldn't Stay Awake For Both.

Barack Puts On His Suit And Tie [and] He's Out The Door — I'm Getting My Hair, Makeup, The Kids, I Gotta Brush Their Hair. You Know, He's Always Looking Like 'where Are You? Where Are You Going?' But Yeah, You Know — It's Fun To Look Pretty.

If My Future Were Determined Just By My Performance On A Standardized Test, I Wouldn't Be Here. I Guarantee You That.

Education Is The Single-most Important Civil Rights Issue That We Face Today.

Fashion Is Not Just About What We Wear, But...fashion Is Also A Business. It Is An Art, It's A Career That Involves Science, Engineering, Accounting And So Much More. People Can Learn About The Math Behind Charles James' Designs, And Think, 'maybe I Should Pay Closer Attention To Geometry This Semester'

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.

My Kids Are Normal. If They Could Eat Burgers And Fries And Ice Cream Every Day, They Would. And So Would I. But That Doesn't Sustain Us.

Barack And I Have Been In The Public Eye For Many Years Now, And We've Developed A Thick Skin Along The Way. When You're Out Campaigning, There Will Always Be Criticism. I Just Take It In Stride, And At The End Of The Day, I Know That It Comes With The Territory.

And The First Thing We Have To Do Is Vote. Hey, No, Not Just Once In A While. Not Just When My Husband Or Somebody You Like Is On The Ballot. But In Every Election At Every Level, All Of The Time.

All We Can Do As Women Is Make The Best Decisions For Us. And That Includes Everything From How You Look To How You Dress To Whether You Choose To Stay At Home Or Work When You Have Kids. All Those Decisions Are So Personal, And We Have To Start With Finding What Brings Us Joy And What Brings Us Our Own Individual Confidence. And If We're Feeling Good With Those Choices, Then It Makes What Everybody Else Has To Say Less Important.

Exercise Is Really Important To Me - It's Therapeutic. So If I'm Ever Feeling Tense Or Stressed Or Like I'm About To Have A Meltdown, I'll Put On My Ipod And Head To The Gym Or Out On A Bike Ride Along Lake Michigan With The Girls.

Much Of What We Do With Our Kids Is Social And That's Good, And We Shouldn't Stop All That. I Mean, How Boring Would It Be That, No, We Can't Eat Anything Out So We're Just Going To Go Home And Sit In The Closet And Wait To The Next Day.

Policies That Support Families Aren't Political Issues. They're Personal. They're The Causes I Carry With Me Every Single Day.

My Happiness Is Measured Against My Kids' Happiness - When They're In A Good Place, I Feel Really Good.

We Have To Make Sure That Our Kids Still Feel Good About Themselves No Matter What Their Weight, No Matter How They Feel. We Need To Make Sure That Our Kids Know That We Love Them No Matter Who They Are, What They Look Like, What They're Eating.

I Was An Incredibly Devoted Student, And I Would Often Wake Up At 4 Or 5 In The Morning To Study. But Even So, There Were Still People Who Thought That A Girl Like Me With A Background Like Mine Wasn't Really "college Material."

We're Going To Have To Change Our Traditions, Our History.

I'm Not Asking Any Of You To Make Drastic Changes To Every Single One Of Your Recipes Or To Totally Change The Way You Do Business. But What I Am Asking Is That You Consider Reformulating Your Menu In Pragmatic And Incremental Ways To Create Healthier Versions Of The Foods That We All Love.

With This New Initiative, Disney Is Doing What No Major Media Company Has Ever Done Before In The United States. And What I Hope Every Company Will Do Going Forward When It Comes To The Ads They Show And The Food They Sell They're Asking Themselves One Simple Question: Is This Good For Our Kids?

My Happiness Is Tied To How I Feel About Myself.

Even If We Give Parents All The Information They Need And We Improve School Meals And Build Brand New Supermarkets On Every Corner, None Of That Matters If When Families Step Into A Restaurant, They Can't Make A Healthy Choice.

Healthy Choices

I Am A Sleeper. When You Wake Up At 4:30 In The Morning To Do A Workout, You're Sleepy At 8 In The Evening. By 10 O'clock At The Latest, I'm In Bed.

You Know, You Have To Start With Hope...you Don't Get Anywhere In This Country Without Hope. So It's A Necessity. What Barack Says Is That People Have To Understand Hope Isn't Just Blind Optimism. It Isn't Passive. It Isn't Just Sitting There Waiting For Things To Get Better. Hope Is The Vision That You Have To Have. It's The Inspiration That Moves People Into Action...there Are More People Engaged In This Political Process In This Year Than We've Seen In My Lifetime. And It Is All Because Of Hope Because People Believe In The Possibility Of Something Unseen.

It Is My Hope That Our Garden's Story-and The Stories Of Gardens Across America-will Inspire Families, Schools, And Communities To Try Their Own Hand At Gardening And Enjoy All The Gifts Of Health, Discovery, And Connection A Garden Can Bring.

I Think If I Weren't Married To [barack Obama], I'd Want Him To Be In There.

Cute's Good. But Cute Only Lasts For So Long, And Then It's, 'who Are You As A Person?' Look At The Heart. Look At The Soul. Look At How The Guy Treats His Mother And What He Says About Women. How He Acts With Children He Doesn't Know. And, More Important, How Does He Treat You?

Every Day, Through Engagement In The Arts, Our Children Learn To Open Their Imagination, To Dream Just A Little Bigger And To Strive Every Day To Reach Those Dreams.

I Felt, As A Lawyer, When I Was Mentoring And Working With Kids, That I Gained A Level Of Groundedness That I Just Couldn't Get Sitting On The Forty-seventh Floor Of A Fancy Firm. Selfishly, It Gives Me Joy - It Makes Me Feel Like My Life Has A Purpose.

We Don't Need New Discoveries Or New Inventions To Reverse This Trend. We Have The Tools At Our Disposal To Reverse It. All We Need Is The Motivation, The Opportunity And The Willpower To Do What Needs To Be Done. ...with This Report, We Have A Very Solid Road Map That We Need To Make These Goals Real, To Solve This Problem Within A Generation.

Sometimes The Issue Is About Whether Families And Communities Think Girls Are Even Worthy Of An Education In The First Place. It's About Whether Girls Are Valued Only For Their Labor And Reproductive Capacities Or For Their Minds As Well. And It's About Whether Women Are Viewed As Second-class Citizens Or As Full Human Beings Entitled To The Same Rights And Opportunities As Men.

Choose People Who Lift You Up.

Inspirational Life

I Know What It Feels Like To Struggle To Get The Education That You Need.

I Want To Feel Like The Things I Did Made A Difference. That's One Of The Reasons I Spend Time Greeting People On Rope Lines, Because I'm Always Thinking, 'maybe This Interaction, Particularly If I'm Meeting Kids, Will Change Someone's Life.' That's How I Think About The Work I Do As First Lady. It's A Rare Spotlight. I Want To Make Sure I Don't Waste It.

One Of The Things I've Done Personally Is Bring My Girlfriends Into My Health And Fitness Journeys.

We Can Make A Commitment To Promote Vegetables And Fruits And Whole Grains On Every Part Of Every Menu. We Can Make Portion Sizes Smaller And Emphasize Quality Over Quantity. And We Can Help Create A Culture - Imagine This - Where Our Kids Ask For Healthy Options Instead Of Resisting Them.

I've Always Tried To Make Sure That What I Do Really Connects With The Broader Agenda Of What My Husband Is Trying To Do.

We've Got A Responsibility To Live Up To The Legacy Of Those Who Came Before Us By Doing All That We Can To Help Those Who Come After Us.

Do Not Ever Let Anyone Make You Feel Like You Don't Matter, Or Like You Don't Have A Place In Our American Story - Because You Do.

So We Know That It's Not Enough For Us To Simply Encourage More People To Study Abroad. We Also Need To Make Sure That They Can Actually Afford It.

People Have Notions Of What A Wife's Role Should Be In This Process, And It's Been A Traditional One Of Blind Adoration. My Model Is A Little Different - I Think Most Real Marriages Are.

The Benefits Of Studying Abroad Are Almost Endless.

The Biggest Obstacle Facing Girls Is Education, Education, Education. There Are Too Many Kids Who Think High School Is A Pit Stop To Fame And Fortune. I Want Girls In This Country To Think Education Is The Coolest, Most Important Thing They Could Ever Do In Their Lives.

The Arts And Humanities Define Who We Are As A People. That Is Their Power -- To Remind Us Of What We Each Have To Offer, And What We All Have In Common. To Help Us Understand Our History And Imagine Our Future. To Give Us Hope In The Moments Of Struggle And To Bring Us Together When Nothing Else Will.

You've Got To Make Choices That Make Sense For You Because There's Always Going To Be Somebody Who'll Think You Should Do Something Differently.

Believe It Or Not, When We Were First Married, Our Combined Monthly Student Loan Bills Were Actually Higher Than Our Mortgage.

It's Hard To Change Adults, And It's Hard To Change It From A Political Position Or A Perceived Political Position.

Let Me Tell You Something: For The First Time In My Adult Life, I Am Proud Of My Country, Because It Feels Like Hope Is Finally Making A Comeback.

I've Always Been A Closet Jock, But When I Got Married And Had Kids, That Fell By The Wayside.

I Come Here Today As A Christian, A Person Of Faith Who Believes We've All Been Called To Serve Our Fellow Men And Women And To Honor God's Creation. We Want Our Girls To Know Right From Wrong, To Always Tell The Truth, To Treat People No Matter Who They Are With Dignity And Respect, No Matter How Different They May Seem...because We Want Our Girls To Know We Are All God's Children And There's So Much More That Unites Than Divides Us.

I Always Want To Be On The Cusp Of Being In The Best Shape That I Can Be.

We Have An Obligation To Fight For The World As It Should Be.

I Think The Most Moving Part Of My Trip [to Africa] So Far Was Seeing 92-year-old Nelson Mandela, And Just Thinking About His Life. This Man Has Lived Through A Struggle That Few Nations Have Known.

I Hate Diversity Workshops. “real Change Comes From Having Enough Comfort To Be Really Honest And Say Something Very Uncomfortable.

You Shouldn't Be In A Relationship With Somebody Who Doesn't Make You Completely Happy And Make You Feel Whole. And If You're In That Relationship And You're Dating, Then My Advice Is, Don't Get Married.

I Am So Tired Of Fear. And I Don't Want My Girls To Live In A Country, In A World, Based On Fear.

In Fact, In The Last Job I Had Before Coming To The White House - I Remember This Clearly - I Was On Maternity Leave With Sasha, Still Trying To Figure Out What To Do With My Life, And I Got A Call For An Interview For This Position, A Senior Position At The Hospitals. And I Thought, Okay, Here We Go. So I Had To Scramble To Look For Babysitting, And Couldn't Find One.

One Reason We Planted The White House Vegetable Garden Was To Set An Example About What Food Can Mean, But To Also Begin A Broader Conversation About How We're Feeding Our Kids, What They Know About The Food That They Eat, How They're Taking Care Of Themselves.

Fortunately, We Have Help From The Media. I Have To Say This: I'm Very Grateful For The Support And Kindness That We've Gotten. People Have Respected Their Privacy And In That Way, I Think, You Know, No Matter What People May Feel About My Husband's Policies Or What Have You, They Care About Children And That's Been Good To See.

If We Truly Believe That Every Girl In Every Corner Of The Globe Is Worthy Of An Education As Our Own Daughters And Granddaughters Are, Then We Need To Deepen Our Commitment To These Efforts.

I Admit It: I Am Louder Than The Average Human Being And Have No Fear Of Speaking My Mind. These Traits Don't Come From The Color Of My Skin But From An Unwavering Belief In My Own Intelligence.

Speaking My Mind

Communities And Countries And Ultimately The World Are Only As Strong As The Health Of Their Women.

When I Was A Young Lawyer, There Were Other Women And Men In The Firm Who Took Me Under Their Wing. Sometimes Mentors Don't Find You - Sometimes You Seek Them Out. You Shouldn't Hesitate To Plop Herself In Someone's Office And Ask Them To Be That Support.... Oftentimes, They're Flattered And Glad To Lend A Hand. So I Would Encourage Any Reader To Seek Out A Mentor, Then Follow Through And Be Very Focused And Persistent.

My Happiness Isn't Connected To My Husband's Or My Boss's Or My Children's Behavior. You Have Control Over Your Own Actions, Your Own Well-being.

Be Passionate About Something And Lean To That Strength.

What I Love About Design Is The Artistic And Scientific Complexity That Also Becomes Useful.

America Is Just Downright Mean.

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.

For Me, I Look At The Faces Of My Kids And I Think About The Future That Is Going To Await Them And Whether They're Going To Not Just Have The Financial Resources To Be Prepared For The Challenge, But Whether They're Going To Have The Strength And The Stamina To Live Healthier, Longer Lives So That They Can See Their Kids And Grandkids. That's The Legacy I Hope To See, And It Can Have Nothing To Do With Me And I'd Be Perfectly Happy.

The Idea That We Are Our Brother's Keeper And Our Sister's Keeper. That We Should Treat Others As We Would Want To Be Treated. And That We Care For The Sick... Feed The Hungry... And Welcome The Stranger... No Matter Where They Come From, Or How They Practice Their Faith.

And I Come Here As A Daughter, Raised On The South Side Of Chicago - By A Father Who Was A Blue-collar City Worker And A Mother Who Stayed At Home With My Brother And Me.

We Need To Fix Our Souls. Our Souls Are Broken In This Nation. We Have Lost Our Way. And It Begins With Inspiration. It Begins With Leadership.

And What Has Been Just Completely Heart Warming Is To See That People Are Really Hungry For Something Different.

Earlier In My College Career, There Was No Doubt In My Mind That As A Member Of The Black Community I Was Somehow Obligated To This Community And Would Utilize All Of My Present And Future Resources To Benefit This Community First And Foremost.

To Be A Good Parent, You Need To Take Care Of Yourself So That You Can Have The Physical And Emotional Energy To Take Care Of Your Family.

I Think Employers Need Help In Understanding How To Translate A Military Career.

Countries Are Stronger And More Prosperous When The Voices And Opinions Of All Their Citizens Can Be Heard.

Because No Matter What Happened, I Had The Peace Of Mind Of Knowing That All Of The Chatter, The Name-calling, The Doubting -- All Of It Was Just Noise. It Did Not Define Me. It Didn’t Change Who I Was. And Most Importantly, It Couldn’t Hold Me Back.

What I Tell My Kids Is, I’m Preparing You For College And For Life. So, Having Independence, Knowing How To Set Your Own Boundaries, Figuring Out How To Make That Balance. We Still Have Screen Time Rules.

Every Day, The People I Meet Inspire Me... Every Day, They Make Me Proud... Every Day They Remind Me How Blessed We Are To Live In The Greatest Nation On Earth.

An Educational Foundation Is Only Part Of The Equation. In Order For Creativity To Flourish And Imagination To Take Hold, We Also Need To Expose Our Children To The Arts From A Very Young Age.

My Goal Has Always Been To Add Value, Not To Be Redundant, Not To Get In The Way, But To Do Things That Lift And Move Things Forward In A Very Strategic And Objective Way So That There Are Real Outcomes.

What I Know For Sure Is That All The Sacrifice And Challenges We Face Are Worth It If We're Creating A Better Future For Our Kids. I Just Think If The Adults Are Always Thinking About The World We Want To Leave For Our Kids, We're Going To Make The Right Choices Every Single Time.

Our Job Is, First And Foremost, To Make Sure Our Family Is Whole.

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.

We're Starting To See, As The Economy Improves, That The Unemployment Rate Among Veterans And Military Spouses - We're Seeing Some Improvement In Those Numbers. And That's A Good Thing.

For The First Time, The Nation Will Have Goals, Benchmarks, And Measureable Outcomes That Will Help Us Tackle The Childhood Obesity Epidemic One Child, One Family, And One Community At A Time.

Obesity Epidemic

As Women, We Cannot Afford To Neglect Ourselves.

Millions Of Americans Who Know That Barack Understands Their Dreams; That Barack Will Fight For People Like Them; And That Barack Will Finally Bring The Change We Need.

The Realities Are That, You Know, As A Black Man, You Know, Barack Can Get Shot Going To The Gas Station, You Know.

My Experiences At Princeton Have Made Me Far More Aware Of My 'blackness' Than Ever Before.

When I Was Younger, I Could Eat Whatever I Wanted, As Long As I Exercised; Or If I Didn't Exercise And Just Watched What I Ate, I'd Maintain. Now I Have To Do Both.

And Let's Be Clear: It's Not Enough Just To Limit Ads For Foods That Aren't Healthy. It's Also Going To Be Critical To Increase Marketing For Foods That Are Healthy.

When I Hear About Negative And False Attacks, I Really Don't Invest Any Energy In Them, Because I Know Who I Am.

Although The Circumstances Of Our Lives May Seem Very Disengaged, With Me Standing Here As The First Lady Of The United States Of America And You Just Getting Through School, I Want You To Know We Have Very Much In Common. For Nothing In My Life Ever Would Have Predicted That I Would Be Standing Here As The First African-american First Lady.

I Would Be Depressed If I Felt I Could Never Eat The Things That I Love. I Also Don't Want My Girls To Be Obsessed About Food.

I've Seen How The Issues That Come Across A President's Desk Are Always The Hard Ones - The Problems Where No Amount Of Data Or Numbers Will Get You To The Right Answer.

Barack Obama Was A Black Man That Lived On The South Side Of Chicago, Who Had His Share Of Troubles Catching Cabs.

When You've Worked Hard, And Done Well, And Walked Through That Doorway Of Opportunity...you Do Not Slam It Shut Behind You...you Reach Back, And You Give Other Folks The Same Chances That Helped You Succeed.

If I Can Have Any Impact, I Want Women To Feel Good About Themselves And Have Fun With Fashion

No, I Think That If He Had Known He Would Be President, He Would Have Started Dying His Hair, Like, 10 Years Ago. Now It's Too Late.

Being A Healthy Woman Isn't About Getting On A Scale Or Measuring Your Waistline. We Need To Start Focusing On What Matters-on How We Feel, And How We Feel About Ourselves.

It's All About Patience And Persistence - You Often Have To Expose A Child To A New Food Numerous Times Before He Or She Will Begin To Like It. So Keep Trying!

The Truth Is, In Order To Get Things Like Universal Health Care And A Revamped Education System, Then Someone Is Going To Have To Give Up A Piece Of Their Pie So That Someone Else Can Have More.

I Mean, That's The Least We Should Do For These Men And Women [veterans And Military Spouses], Is To Make Sure They Come Back To Jobs That Pay, To Career Opportunities, That These Spouses Are Able To Add A Second Income To Their Households, Because These Families Do Not Have A Lot Of Resources.

I Think Any Family Would, Any Mother Would Their Children.

Elections Aren't Just About Who Votes, But Who Doesn't Vote.

We Have To Remember That It's Usually Women Who Are Making The Health Care Decisions For Their Families.... True Equality Would Mean Making Sure That There's Equity In Terms Of How Insurance Reimburses Certain Procedures; Making Sure That We Have Preventative Care That's Covered So Women Can Get Their Mammograms And Pap Screens Without Extra Charges.

When You Walk Through That Door Of Opportunity You Don't Slam It Shut Behind You.

To Get Kids Involved In Meal Planning And Preparation, Create Games Out Of Trying New Foods, And Provide Ample Opportunities For Physical Activity, Recognizing It May Take Some Time To Find An Activity They Truly Enjoy.

My Most Important Title Is Mom In Chief

Success Is Only Meaningful - And Enjoyable - If It Feels Like Your Own.

My Priority Will Be Making Sure My Family Is Happy And Settled.

I'm Not A Big Fan Of Young Kids Having Facebook. It's Not Something They Need. It's Not Necessary.

Every Thanksgiving, Barack Sits Down To Call Some Of Our Troops And Thank Them For Their Service. When He Tells Me About These Conversations, It Always Reminds Me Of How Blessed We Are To Live In A Country Where Men And Women Will Stand Up To Protect Our Freedoms And Preserve Our Way Of Life. And Whenever I've Had The Chance To Meet With These Heroes And Their Families, I've Always Walked Away Inspired By Their Courage And In Awe Of Their Strength.

I Can Make Choices That Make Me Happy, And It Will Ripple And Benefit My Kids, My Husband, And My Physical Health. That's Hard For Women To Own; We're Not Taught To Do That.

Sometimes, It's Just Easier To Say Yes To That Extra Snack Or Dessert, Because Frankly, It Is Exhausting To Keep Saying No. It's Exhausting To Plead With Our Kids To Eat Just One More Bite Of Vegetables.

I Try To Tell Young People To Get In Shape Now, Because It's Easier. If You're 30 And Want To Drop 10 Pounds, All You Have To Do Is Just Walk.

I Never Cut Class. I Loved Getting A's, I Liked Being Smart. I Liked Being On Time. I Thought Being Smart Is Cooler Than Anything In The World.

Barack Didn't Pledge Riches, Only A Life That Would Be Interesting. On That Promise He Delivered.

Barack Knows That We Are Going To Have To Make Sacrifices; We Are Going To Have To Change Our Conversation; We're Going To Have To Change Our Traditions, Our History; We're Going To Have To Move Into A Different Place.

We've Gotten Commitments From Medical Schools, From Nursing Schools, To Step Up And Increase That Pool Of Knowledgeable Individuals.

Barack Is One Of The Smartest People You Will Ever Encounter Who Will Deign To Enter This Messy Thing Called Politics.

And That's My Message To Voters, This Isn't About Barack, It's Not About Person On That Ballot -- Its About You. And For Most Of The People We Are Talking To [blacks], A Democratic Ticket Is The Clear Ticket That We Should Be Voting On, Regardless Of Who Said What Or Did This -- That Shouldn't Even Come Into The Equation.

'let's Move!' Is Not About Having Government Tell People What To Do, Because Government Doesn't Have All The Answers.

I've Always Been A Closet Jock. With Exercising, The More You Do It, The More You Get Into It. And The More You See Results, The More You're Pushing For The Next Level.

How Hard You Work Matters More Than How Much You Make.

Value Everyone's Contribution And Treat Everyone With Respect.

We Got A Commitment That 3 Million Nurses Are Going To Be Trained To Better Identify These Signs [of Ptsd], Because, You Know, When These Troops Come Home And They Become Veterans And They Go Back Into The Civilian Community, They're Not Always Going Through The Va System For Medical Care. They're Going To Show Up At Community Hospitals And Clinics.

We Have To Design Policies That Have Meaningful Impacts On The Quality Of Life Of Women And Families. And That's Something That I Know I Can Speak Passionately About Because Whether I'm In The White House As First Lady, As Long As I Have Kids And I'm Trying To Have A Life, I'm Gonna Be Trying To Make This Balance Work...

I Was Not Raised With Wealth Or Resources Or Any Social Standing To Speak Of.

But We Need A Medical Community That's Trained And Knowledgeable And Working On Advancement.

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