I always tell young girls, surround yourself with goodness. I learned early on how to get the haters out of my life.
— Michelle Obama
As we've seen time and again, women and girls who are out there working, they are truly force multipliers, spreading opportunity through their families and communities - and not just by creating programs and nonprofit organizations, not just by hiring other women, but also by serving as role models themselves.
You don't have to be somebody different to be important. You're important in your own right.
When a father puts in long hours at work, he's praised for being dedicated and ambitious. But when a mother stays late at the office, she's sometimes accused of being selfish, neglecting her kids.
What we know is that when girls don't go to school, they earn lower salaries. They get married earlier. They have higher infant and maternal mortality rates. And they're more likely to contract HIV, less likely to immunize their children.
Don't judge. I used to buy underwear because I didn't do my laundry.
I've come to admire our military kids more than you all will know, because you guys are heroes. And the only way your parents are able to serve is because you guys hold it down, and you do it with maturity beyond your years.
I tried to be a serious student and not procrastinate, but I was still somebody that would be described as somebody who liked to have fun, too, and go to the occasional party - or two or three.
I remember one parent-teacher conference at the lower school, and Barack went, and there were SWAT guys on top of the roof of the school. And Malia was like, 'Dad, really? Really? Do they really have to be up there?' And it's like, yeah, honey, they do.
Remember, it is not about voting for the perfect candidate - there is no such thing. Presidents are human.
The issues that cross a president's desk are never easy. The easy questions don't even get to the president.
There were the questions of what kind of First Lady I would be, what issues would I focus on. Those were the questions that were being pounded on me through the campaign. A lot of times, I wondered what in the world Barack was even getting us into.
It was clear to me that if I could get through Princeton at the top of my class, I could do anything in the world.
Meryl Streep is exactly as awesome as you would imagine Meryl Streep to be.
The difference between us and them, between you and success, is not that you never fail, but it's how you recover from those failures - is that you keep getting up time and time again. You figure out what you did wrong, and then you make it right. I say that to my kids every day.
We are a nation founded as a rebuke to tyranny. A nation of revolutionaries who refused sovereign reign from afar. Hear me - we're a nation that says give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. A nation built on our differences, guided by the belief that we're all created equal.
Hillary doesn't play. She has more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime - yes, more than Barack, more than Bill. So she is absolutely ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.
One of the things I realized is that if you do not take control over your time and your life, other people will gobble it up. If you don't prioritize yourself, you constantly start falling lower and lower on your list, your kids fall lower and lower on your list.
We as women, we have to understand that we know more, just even instinctively, than we think we do.
If I made a commitment, I stood by that commitment - and try to make it real. Because when you become leaders, the most important thing you have is your word, your trust. That's where respect comes from.
Throughout my 20s and early 30s, I had jobs that I loved. I worked in city government. I ran a youth organization. I served as an associate dean at a university. And I couldn't imagine how a baby would fit into all of that.
People change because of kids. They change how they eat. They change the way they think. They change the way they see one another.
Do not be afraid to ask for help. Nobody gets through college on their own.
I was a sociology major. And it had nothing to do necessarily with law, which is ultimately - I went to law school. But what I tried to do was choose something that I was passionate about or something that I cared about.
You don't have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don't need any special equipment - that's the beauty of it.
I've said this time and again: My greatest concern coming into the White House was making sure my girls came out whole and normal, and decent and kind, just like I would expect them to if we were living on the South Side of Chicago. And it takes work to keep White House life normal for the kids.
We need a president who will choose to do what's best for the country, even when it doesn't personally benefit them.
This healthy eating stuff, it's here to stay, and we now have everything we need to seize the opportunity and give all our kids the healthy futures they so richly deserve.
The one way to get me to work my hardest was to doubt me.
Through my education, I didn't just develop skills, I didn't just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.
All of us are mentors. You're mentors right here and now. And one of the things I've always done throughout my life, I have always found that person, that group of people that I was going to reach my hand out and help bring them along with me.
For the record, our democracy is revered around the world. And free elections are the best way on Earth to choose our leaders. This is how we elected John F. Kennedy; Ronald Reagan; two George Bushes; Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama. It has worked for decades.
Whether we're Democrats, Republicans, or independents - it does not matter. We all understand that an attack on any one of us is an attack on all of us.
I say this everywhere I go: I admire and respect Hillary. She has been a lawyer, a law professor, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States, a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State.
I specifically did not read other First Ladies' books, because I didn't want to be influenced by how they defined the role. I knew that I would have to find this role - very uniquely and specifically to me and who I was.
Not being afraid to be wrong - I had to learn how to do that.
Those 62 million girls who are not being educated around the world impact my life in Washington, D.C., in the United States of America. Because if we aren't empowering and providing the skills and the resources to half of our population, then we're not realizing our full potential as a society, as mankind.
My family didn't have a lot of money, so I worked my heart out to get my degrees. But the minute I graduated, suddenly everyone was asking me, 'Well, when are you going to get married and start having kids?' And the truth is I had no idea how I would balance the expected role of wife and mother with a challenging career.
I can't say this enough - the food that you put into your bodies can actually help you get better grades. And it can also affect your performance in sports and other activities too. You see, when you give your body the best possible fuel, you have more energy, you're stronger, you think more quickly.
I think I'm pretty smart. I think I'm pretty clever. But there's a lot that you hone in on when you finish your education.
It's like, remember who you always were, where you came from, who your parents were, how they raised you. Because that authentic self is going to follow you all through life, so make sure that it's solid so it's something that you can hold on and be proud of for the rest of your life.
The notion that we have even one single veteran living on the streets should be just considered a travesty to all of us.
I wish every American had an opportunity to sit down, to go to a base, to meet with families, to meet with service members, to sit down with our veterans - because we would think differently about our challenges as individuals.
We need someone with superb judgement in their own right because, yes, a president can hire the best advisors on Earth, but I guarantee you this: Five advisors will give five different opinions. And it is the president - and the president alone - who always makes the final call.
After an era of everything being super-sized, who would have thought that major companies would be racing to market smaller, lower-calorie versions of their snacks and beverages - from half-sized candy bars to little, mini soda cans? We see it everywhere we go.
We can't afford not to educate girls and give women the power and the access that they need.
I hope that people around the world will be as inspired as I am to step up and to speak out on behalf of girls around the world who struggle to go to school.
Whether you want to go into music, whether you want to be a lawyer, whether you want to be President of the United States, the bottom line for all of you is that you have got to get your education.
When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you're doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she's doing.
I'm asking myself, 'What do my girls, what do all our children deserve in their president? What kind of a president do we want for them?' Well, to start with, I think we want someone who is a unifying force in this country: someone who sees our differences not as a threat, but as a blessing.
