“So, first of all, you’ve got to try to get people involved. And a lot of people are busy in their own lives or they don’t think it’s going to make a difference or they’re scared if they’re speaking out against authority. And many of the problems that we’re facing, like trying to create jobs or better opportunity or dealing with poverty or dealing with the environment, these are problems that have been going on for decades. And so, to think that somehow you’re going to change it in a day or a week, and then if it doesn’t happen you just give up, well, then you definitely won’t succeed. So the most important thing that I learned as a young person trying to bring about change is you have to be persistent, and you have to get more people involved, and you have to form relationships with different groups and different organizations. And you have to listen to people about what they’re feeling and what they’re concerned about, and build trust. And then, you have to try to find a small part of the problem and get success on that first, so that maybe from there you can start something else and make it bigger and make it bigger, until over time you are really making a difference in your community and in that problem. But you can’t be impatient. And the great thing about young people is they’re impatient. The biggest problem with young people is they’re impatient. It’s a strength, because it’s what makes you want to change things. But sometimes, you can be disappointed if change doesn’t happen right away and then you just give up. And you just have to stay with it and learn from your failures, as well as your successes.”

—  Barack Obama

2014, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall (April 2014)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 30, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "So, first of all, you’ve got to try to get people involved. And a lot of people are busy in their own lives or they don…" by Barack Obama?
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama 1158
44th President of the United States of America 1961

Related quotes

Beiwen Zhang photo

“When you win some tournaments and when you get good results, people are going to enjoy the success. But they don’t really think about what is going to be next. You’re going to lose the next week, too. So other players, they don’t really think about it. They’re always thinking, ‘I’m really good.’”

Beiwen Zhang (1990) badminton player

"Making Her Own Way, Beiwen Zhang Sets Her Course as Team USA’s Top Badminton Player" https://www.teamusa.org/News/2019/December/10/Making-Her-Own-Way-Beiwen-Zhang-Sets-Her-Course-As-Team-USAs-Top-Badminton-Player (10 December 2019)

M.I.A. photo

“Google’s more powerful than any government now – people think it’s God. They’re storing all our data and one day they’re going to turn against us.”

M.I.A. (1975) British recording artist, songwriter, painter and director

Quote reprinted http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4#11 in NME
Sourced quotes

Richard Sherman (American football) photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Paul Romer photo

“Many people think that dealing with protecting the environment will be so costly and so hard that they just want to ignore the problem. I hope the prize today could help everyone see that humans are capable of amazing accomplishments when we set about trying to do something.”

Paul Romer (1955) American economist

At a news conference following the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics announcement, as quoted in "2 Americans win econ Nobel for work on climate and growth" https://www.apnews.com/c3e7552c033748e683d502d890613b8b Associated Press. October 8, 2018.

Sean Parker photo

“It seems like the right thing to do is tackle problems other people aren’t working on. Part of the challenge of being an entrepreneur, if you’re going for a really huge opportunity, is trying to find problems that aren’t quite on the radar yet and try to solve those.”

Sean Parker (1979) American internet technology entrepreneur

TechCrunch: <nowiki>"Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning Hint At The Future Of Airtime [TCTV https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/05/sean-parker-airtime-app-platform-cool/"</nowiki>] (5 June 2012)

Alastair Reynolds photo
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
Ann Coulter photo
Charles B. Rangel photo

Related topics