Jayla > Jayla's Quotes

“I do recognize the value of individuals having their own interests, ambitions, and dreams,” I wrote in my journal. “But I don’t believe that the pursuit of one person’s dreams should come at the expense of the couple.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“I now tried out a new hypothesis: It was possible that I was more in charge of my happiness than I was allowing myself to be”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“It’s a curious thing to realize, the in-betweenness one feels being African American in Africa. It gave me a hard-to-explain feeling of sadness, a sense of being unrooted in both lands.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“In general, I felt as if I couldn’t win, that no amount of faith or hard work would push me past my detractors and their attempts to invalidate me. I was female, black, and strong, which to certain people, maintaining a certain mind-set, translated only to “angry.” It was another damaging cliché, one that’s been forever used to sweep minority women to the perimeter of every room, an unconscious signal not to listen to what we’ve got to say.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“It’s remarkable how a stereotype functions as an actual trap. How many “angry black women” have been caught in the circular logic of that phrase? When you aren’t being listened to, why wouldn’t you get louder? If you’re written off as angry or emotional, doesn’t that just cause more of”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“It’s remarkable how a stereotype functions as an actual trap. How many “angry black women” have been caught in the circular logic of that phrase? When you aren’t being listened to, why wouldn’t you get louder? If you’re written off as angry or emotional, doesn’t that just cause more of the same?”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“I've learned that it's harder to hate up close.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“They’re not special at all. The South Side is filled with kids like that.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses... swapped back and forth and over again.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“Ghetto" signaled that a place was both black and hopeless. It was a label that foretold failure and then hastened its arrival.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“[Y]ou may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming