Becoming

by Michelle Obama

Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It’s vulnerability that breeds with self-doubt and then is escalated, often deliberately, by fear.

If in high school I’d felt as if I were representing my neighborhood, now at Princeton I was representing my race.

the established path—the my-isn’t-that-impressive path—and keep you there for a long time. Maybe it stops you from swerving, from ever even considering a swerve, because what you risk losing in terms of other people’s high regard can feel too costly.

Grief and resilience live together.

Dominance, even the threat of it, is a form of dehumanization. It’s the ugliest kind of power.