Famous quotes by First Ladys

"I don't think there are any men who are faithful to their wives"

"Can anyone understand how it is to have lived in the White House and then, suddenly, to be living alone as the President's widow?"

"When Harvard men say they have graduated from Radcliffe, then we've made it"

"The winner of the hoop race will be the first to realize her dream, not society's dream, her own personal dream"

"And who knows? Somewhere out there in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president's spouse. I wish him well!"

"The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom"

"Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them"

"I never cut class. I loved getting As, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world"

"And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation"

"I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic"

"My life really began when I married my husband"

"I believe that people would be alive today if there were a death penalty"

"I've liked lots of people 'til I went on a picnic jaunt with them"

"You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk"

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be"

"I think once I made up my mind that I was allergic to alcohol, and that's what I learned, it made sense to me. And I think it was kind of pointed out that you know if you were allergic to strawberries, you wouldn't eat strawberries. And that made sense to me"

"I really didn't want to have my name on the center, because it just seemed like it was too much of a personal thing"

"What you don't do can be a destructive force"

"The only advantage of not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are"

"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life"

"Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression"

"What one has to do usually can be done"

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot"

"There are practical little things in housekeeping which no man really understands"

"The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why"

"You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give"

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'"

"You can't move so fast that you try to change the mores faster than people can accept it. That doesn't mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority"

"You can never really live anyone else's life, not even your child's. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you've become yourself"

"Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!"