Famous Michelle Obama quotes

Exercise is really important to me – it’s therapeutic.
- Michelle Obama

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.
- Michelle Obama

Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.
- Michelle Obama

Through my education, I didn’t just develop skills, I didn’t just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.
- Michelle Obama

Your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.
- Michelle Obama

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.
- Michelle Obama

Happy seemed like a starting place for everything.
- Michelle Obama

Even if we didn’t know the context, we were instructed to remember that context existed. Everyone on earth, they’d tell us, was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance.
- Michelle Obama

To me, there was magic in the learning.
- Michelle Obama

Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. Trust your instincts, good relationships feel good, they feel right, they don’t hurt.
- Michelle Obama

Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.
- Michelle Obama

If you don't get out there and define yourself, you'll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.
- Michelle Obama

Success isn't about how much money you make. It's about the difference you make in people's lives.
- Michelle Obama

Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.
- Michelle Obama

As First Lady, I was slowly watching myself being exposed to the world. I had to become more strategic in how I presented myself, because it has the potential of defining me for the rest of my life.
- Michelle Obama

There is no boy, at this age, cute enough or interesting enough to stop you from getting an education, If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn’t be married to the President of the United States.
- Michelle Obama

Failing is a crucial part of success. Every time you fail and get back up. You practice perseverance, which is the key to life. Your strength comes in your ability to recover.
- Michelle Obama

Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.
- Michelle Obama

I had to ignore all of the noise and be true to myself—and the rest would work itself out.
- Michelle Obama

I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.
- Michelle Obama

For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback … not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.
- Michelle Obama

When you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.
- Michelle Obama

No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.
- Michelle Obama

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.
- Michelle Obama

Countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all their citizens can be heard.
- Michelle Obama

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them.
- Michelle Obama