"If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that."

"When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president. He didn't care whether it was the easy thing to do politically - that's not how he was raised - he cared that it was the right thing to do."

"It wasn't so long ago that I was a working mom myself. And I know that sometimes, much as we all hate to admit it, it's just easier to park the kids in front of the TV for a few hours, so we can pay the bills or do the laundry or just have some peace and quiet for a change."

"There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made."

"I'm a good girl because I really believe in love, integrity, and respect."

"In a drama of the highest order there is little food for censure or hatred it teaches rather self-knowledge and self-respect."

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

"It is a essential truth that humility is not weakness in leadership; it is the cornerstone of unassailable respect — an essential principle for the reflective life."