Today, February 16, is Presidents’ Day! The American holiday, which was originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington’s birthday, made its move to the third Monday of February in 1971 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The date change created more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Several states in America still have individual holidays in order to honor the birth of famous presidents such as, Washington, and Lincoln, but the all inclusive Presidents’ Day serves as the main holiday to celebrate every U.S. President past and present. Continuing with this theme, we have collected 24 of President Barack Obama’s most inspiring and notable quotes!
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
“If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”
“The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.”
“We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.”
“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”
“If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.”
“We didn't become the most prosperous country in the world just by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn't come this far by letting the special interests run wild. We didn't do it just by gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street. We built this country by making things, by producing goods we could sell.”
“A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.'”
“Of course, violence will not end with our combat mission. Extremists will continue to set off bombs, attack Iraqi civilians and try to spark sectarian strife. But ultimately, these terrorists will fail to achieve their goals.”
“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.”
“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”
“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
“I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”
“What I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all - the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.”
“There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.”
“My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.”
“Issues are never simple. One thing I'm proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.”
“Now we're in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change - we're doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change - inch by inch, day by day.”
“A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship - and you know what, a father does, too. It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode.”
“No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might - but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.”
“America is the student who defies the odds to become the first in a family to go to college - the citizen who defies the cynics and goes out there and votes - the young person who comes out of the shadows to demand the right to dream. That's what America is about.”
“We know that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow. This is an edge America cannot surrender.”
“Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we've got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.”
“America isn't Congress. America isn't Washington. America is the striving immigrant who starts a business, or the mom who works two low-wage jobs to give her kid a better life. America is the union leader and the CEO who put aside their differences to make the economy stronger.”
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