Barack Obama

The challenges we face go well beyond a virus, and the old normal wasn't good enough.

You don't have to accept what was considered normal before. You don't have to accept the world as it is. You can make it into the world as it should be and could be. You can create a new normal.

You don't always need hope when everything's going fine. It's when things seem darkest. That's when you need it the most.

Don't fall for the easy cynicism that says, 'Nothing can change.' Or that there's only one way to bring about change.

When you hear someone longing for the 'good old days,' take it with a grain of salt. The 'good old days' weren't that great.

In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That's just not knowing what you're talking about.

The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it's becoming more connected every day. Building walls won't change that.

Gear yourself for the long haul. Success, however small, however incomplete, success is still success. Better is good. It may not be perfect, it may not be great, but it's good. That's how progress happens.

It betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do.

Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you've gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and they overcame them.

I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed; I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted; I will not be thinking about the Nobel Prize I received. I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters.

Whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy.