Barack Obama

If you choose to broaden your circle to include people who've had different backgrounds and life experiences, you'll learn what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes, and in the process, you'll help make this democracy work.

This democracy we have is a precious thing. For all the arguments and all the doubts and all the cynicism that's out there today, we should never forget that as Americans, we enjoy more freedoms and opportunities than citizens in any other nation on Earth.

What is certain — what has always been certain — is the ability to shape that destiny. That is what makes us different. That is what makes us Americans — our ability at the end of the day to look past all of our differences and all of our disagreements and still forge a common future.

The elevation of appearance over substance, of celebrity over character, of short-term gain over lasting achievement is precisely what your generation needs to help end.

Find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs.

It's moments like these that force us to try harder, to dig deeper, and to discover gifts we never knew we had — to find the greatness that lies within each of us.