Inauguration Quotes

• Every moment is a fresh new beginning... a wonderful inauguration of the great cosmic journey through the Universe. We can do whatever we want. We can change reality at any moment.

  Russell Brand

  New Beginnings, Journey, Reality

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• We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

  Barack Obama

  Ideas, Promise, Generations

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• 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

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• We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.

  Barack Obama

  Believe, People, Pro Life

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

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• The word; the forth-speaking of a thought, an idea, a truth, is the beginning of every new creation, or pulse of creation. It is the inauguration of every new order of things; it begins every new messianic reign, every coming of a better time. The darkness never comprehends it; but always, to as many as receive it, it gives power.

  Samuel Longfellow

  Order, Ideas, Giving

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• What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

  Barack Obama

  Character, Responsibility, Giving

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

  Barack Obama

  Heritage, Weakness, Patchwork

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• We won't apologise for our way of life, nor will we weaver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken, you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

  Barack Obama

  Broken, Stronger, Way

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• With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.

  Abraham Lincoln

  God, Business, Work

  Second Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1865

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• I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

  Barack Obama

  Grateful, Sacrifice, Today

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

  Barack Obama

  Father, Men, Rights

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.

  Barack Obama

  Children, Powerful, Believe

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

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• My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Country

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

  Barack Obama

  People, Judging, Leader

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• We will respond to the threat of climate change

  Barack Obama

  Climate, Threat, Drought

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

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• When every high school graduate can spell the word, 'inauguration,' let's put lampshades on our heads and listen to his speeches until Obama's voice gives out.

  Paula Poundstone

  School, Voice, Giving

  "Celebrate Bad Times, Come On!" by Paula Poundstone, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 7, 2009.

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• Let it be said to our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we didn't turn our back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

  Barack Obama

  Children, Eye, Journey

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• the better angels of our nature

  Abraham Lincoln

  Angel, Civil War, Apocalypse

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1861

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• To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

  Barack Obama

  Hands, Deceit, Fists

  First Presidential Inaugural Address, Delivered 20 January 2009

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• I'm here today to update the American people on the incredible progress that has been made in the last four weeks since my inauguration. We have made incredible progress.

  Donald Trump

  People, Progress, Updates

  Source: www.esquire.com

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• The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. --as quoted in THE RIVER OF WINGED DREAMS

  Abraham Lincoln

  Dream, Nature, Memories

  Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln (1998). “The Lincoln Mailbag: America Writes to the President, 1861-1865”, p.7, SIU Press

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• There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.

  William J. Clinton

  Memorial Day, Freedom, 4th Of July

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• I talk about going to his [George W. Bush's] Inauguration and crying when he took the oath, 'cause I was so afraid he was going to "wreck the economy and muck up the drinking water"... the failure of my pessimistic imagination at that moment boggles my mind now.

  Sarah Vowell

  Drinking, Water, Imagination

  "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, www.cc.com. February 21, 2006.

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• Mandates are rarely won on election night. They are earned after Inauguration Day by leaders who spend their political capital wisely, taking advantage of events without overreaching.

  Ron Fournier

  Night, Leader, Political

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• From being a little girl in the projects, going through all of the mess that I was going through, to ending up at the Inauguration for the first African-American president, I'm speechless right now because I never thought I'd - I never ever - I couldn't even see that far. Even when I ended up in the music business I couldn't see that.

  Mary J. Blige

  Girl, African American, President

  "Piers Morgan Tonight", transcripts.cnn.com. December 7, 2011.

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