Key Quotes From Obama’s Inaugural Speech

Key quotes from US President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech Monday on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington: 

OVERCOMING DIVISIONS
“Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.”

SEIZING THE MOMENT
“America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.”

CLIMATE CHANGE
“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the
devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.”

POLITICAL GRIDLOCK
“For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”

IMMIGRATION
“Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS
“Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.”
“We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.”

GAY RIGHTS
“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

PROMOTING DEMOCRACY ABROAD
“We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”