Barack Obama: “Within six months, 98 percent of those graduates--you--are either employed or continuing your education.”

This idea that any suggestion or criticism that America was anything other than perfect is unpatriotic... is a suggestion that you hate your country.

I think when you understand the complexities of America and the contradictions of America, I don’t think it makes you love it less. I think it makes you love it more.

It fortifies you to say that, yes, this has been part of the journey that we’re on.

They're meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what's possible, so we can forge ahead.