Barack Obama Quotes About Progress

• America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

  Barack Obama

  America, Justice, Mind Blowing

  A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University, delivered 4 June 2009, Cairo, Egypt

• It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide.

  Barack Obama

  Beach, Sacrifice, Long

  "Obama on D-Day: 'The Evil We Faced Had to Be Stopped'" by Karen Travers, Jake Tapper, Sunlen Miller, abcnews.go.com. June 6, 2009.

• If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.

  Barack Obama

  Inspirational, Motivational, Inspiring

  "Barack Obama's farewell speech: this is how a leader signs off" by Ruchira Karnik, www.hindustantimes.com. January 15, 2017.

• Simple exchanges can break down walls between us, for when people come together and speak to one another and share a common experience, then their common humanity is revealed. We are reminded that we're joined together by our pursuit of a life that's productive and purposeful, and when that happens mistrust begins to fade and our smaller differences no longer overshadow the things that we share. And that's where progress begins.

  Barack Obama

  Wall, Simple, Common Humanity

• On every front there are clear answers out there that can make this country stronger, but we're going to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling. Our job is to make sure that even as we make progress, that we are also giving people a sense of hope and vision for the future.

  Barack Obama

  Inspirational, Hope, Country

  "Obama: 'Fear' drives voters" by Carol E.Lee, www.politico.com. October 16, 2010.

• Americans have always pursued our dreams within a free market that has been the engine of our progress. It's a market that has created a prosperity that is the envy of the world, and rewarded the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon of science, and technology, and discovery. But the American economy has worked in large part because we have guided the market's invisible hand with a higher principle - that America prospers when all Americans can prosper. That is why we have put in place rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest.

  Barack Obama

  Dream, Technology, Invisible Hand

  "The Day the Momentum Changed: And What Obama Needs to Do in the Debates to Keep It" by Drew Westen, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 23, 2008.

• Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Government, Long

  Second Presidential Inaugural Address, delivered 21 January 2013, Washington, D.C.

• While the future is unknowable, the winds always blow in the direction of human progress.

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Blow, Wind

  Barack Obama's remarks prior to departure from Accra, Ghana, July 11, 2009.

• I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I've spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need.

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Thinking, Progress

  Barack Oba,a's remarks in a video posting, announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, January 16, 2007.

• Today, we are closer to fulfilling America's promise of economic and social justice because we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. King, yet our future progress will depend on how we prepare our next generation of leaders. We must fortify their ladders of opportunity by correcting social injustice, breaking the cycle of poverty in struggling communities, and reinvesting in our schools. Education can unlock a child's potential and remains our strongest weapon against injustice and inequality.

  Barack Obama

  Kings, Children, Struggle

• Even as we do all that's necessary to ensure Israel's security, even as we are clear-eyed about the difficult challenges before us, and even as we pledge to stand by Israel through whatever tough days lie ahead, I hope we do not give up on that vision of peace. For if history teaches us anything, if the story of Israel teaches us anything, it is that with courage and resolve, progress is possible. Peace is possible.

  Barack Obama

  Giving Up, Lying, Israel

  Remarks by the President at the AIPAC Policy Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. May 22, 2011.

• The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old - is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.

  Barack Obama

  Inspiring, Running, Country

  Barack Obama, (2008). “Change We Can Believe In”, p.237, Canongate Books

• The incredible story of progress that is America has always been built by those who ask why, what if, and why not. Our schools must begin instilling that wonder in our children again so that their generation will unite around the next great project of our time, whether it be declaring America energy independent or launching the next great technological revolution.

  Barack Obama

  Inspiring, Children, School

• And so our goal on health care is, if we can get, instead of health care costs going up 6 percent a year, it's going up at the level of inflation, maybe just slightly above inflation, we've made huge progress. And by the way, that is the single most important thing we could do in terms of reducing our deficit. That's why we did it.

  Barack Obama

  Years, Goal, Progress

• I wonder, sometimes, whether men and women in fact are capable of learning from history--whether we progress from one stage to the next in an upward course or whether we just ride the cycles of boom and bust, war and peace, ascent and decline.

  Barack Obama

  War, Men, Progress

  Barack Obama (2007). “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”, p.322, Canongate Books

• So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you - and fight alongside you - until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.

  Barack Obama

  Anniversary, Jobs, Fighting

  "New Orleans Residents Still Struggling To Get Back Home". Remarks from the Crescent City, www.npr.org. August 31, 2010.

• We've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East. I want to also point out that by working with Iran on this nuclear deal, we were better able to address other issues.

  Barack Obama

  War, Iran, Issues

  "President Obama Gives Statement About U.S.-Iran Deals This Weekend". "Weekend Edition Sunday", www.npr.org. January 17, 2016.

• Historically - when you look at how America has evolved, typically we make progress on race relations in fits and starts. We make some progress, and then there's maybe some slippage.

  Barack Obama

  Race, America, Progress

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• We have to recognize we've got some big problems on race, just like we got still big problems on crime, just like we got big problems on just about everything. But we also have to make sure that we've - draw confidence from the progress that we have made, 'cause otherwise, you get into this cycle of cynicism.

  Barack Obama

  Race, Progress, Causes

  Source: abcnews.go.com

• Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded, then, is a return to these truths.

  Barack Obama

  Loyalty, Honesty, Hard Work

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

• We have a rare chance to pursue a new path, a different, better future that delivers progress for both our peoples and the wider world. That's the opportunity before the Iranian people. We need to take advantage of that.

  Barack Obama

  Opportunity, People, Progress

  Statement by the President on Iran, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. January 17, 2016.

• I think that the risk to all the progress we've made was at stake in the election because not just the president-elect but a lot of members of Congress, including now the Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader, have said that their principal agenda was to undo a lot of this progress. But as I've been talking about over the last several days when it comes to health care, the gains that we've made are there. Twenty million people have health insurance that didn't have it before. The uninsured rate is the lowest it's ever been.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, Talking, Majority Leader

  Source: abcnews.go.com

• We are unique among advanced countries that we don't have universal health care. My hope was that I was able to get a hundred percent of people health care while I was president. We didn't quite achieve that, but we were able to get 20 million people health care who didn't have it before. And obviously some of the progress we made is now imperiled because there's still a significant debate taking place in the United States. For those 20 million people, their lives have been better.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Unique, People

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

• The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure.

  Barack Obama

  Lying, Pride, America

  First Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, delivered 24 February 2009

• We're starting to make some progress. But there's still gonna be some pain out there. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's gonna be a one-term proposition.

  Barack Obama

  Pain, Years, Progress

  "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer, www.cbsnews.com. August 7, 2011.

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