Abraham Lincoln Quotes

Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions.

But America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights. That power belongs to the people. That government exists to protect our rights and serve our interests. That we shouldn't be trapped in the circumstances of our birth. That we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.

Every soul deserves a shot at a Cadillac, but not everyone should be guaranteed a Cadillac.

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

The genius of our institutions is democratic - baseball is a democratic game.

Where the costs of entry are minimal, there is a wide avenue of opportunity for those with little or nothing, which is why football is just about the most democratic sport of all: African and Brazilian footballers compete on a level playing field with their rich white European counterparts.

Our country has become the land of opportunity to those born without inheritance.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Monopoly and privilege must be destroyed, opportunity afforded, and competition encouraged. This is Liberty's work.

In America, our origins matter less than our destinations and that is what democracy is all about.

There is a fundamental notion at the core of American identity that, in this country, any little boy or girl can grow up to be president.

I feel passionately that the opportunities I have had should be available to everyone.

Democracy is our commitment. It is our great legacy, a legacy we simply cannot compromise. Democracy is in our DNA. I have seen the strength of democracy. If there were no democracy then someone like me, Modi, a child born in a poor family, how would he sit here? This is the strength of democracy.

The beauty of a democracy is that you never can tell when a youngster is born what he is going to do with himself, and that no matter how humbly he is born, no matter where he is born, no matter what circumstances hamper him at the outset, he has got a chance to master the minds and lead the imaginations of the whole country.

All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government. It gave to human existence a zest and camaraderie that outweighed its pitfalls and defects. It gave to thought and science and enterprise the freedom essential to their operation and growth. It broke down the walls of privilege and class, and in each generation it raised up ability from every rank and place.

America had an emphasis on the individual and so education became available for everyone.

All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.

I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has.

I am not from the political or banking elite. I am a child of the middle class far from Paris. And if someone had told me that success is bad or if they had placed hurdles in my path, I wouldn't be where I am today. I want it to be possible for young people in our country to be successful - whether they want to find that success in the family, as an artist or by founding a company.

Freedom and opportunity are precious gifts and the purpose of our politics is to expand them, for all our people.

But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here.

What is the American dream? The American dream is one big tent. One big tent. And on that big tent you have four basic promises: equal protection under the law, equal opportunity, equal access, and fair share.

Outside of the family, education is the greatest determinant of social mobility.

I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.

I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'