Michelle

“ Her father took Rose up in his own canoe, and at the Island Camp they found their new friends. Mr. Ellett went off to take their pool, and Rose was soon seated in Carington’s canoe, facing the stern of the boat.
“No,” he said gaily, “I shall sit between you and Michelle, here in the bottom. I shall be very comfortable, and I shall be able to criticize your casts. No, I don’t mean to fish. It is your day—all yours. We shall beat you, Mr. Lyndsay. Mind, Michelle, we are bent on wholesale business.” ”

“ We have escaped none too soon; the dragonnades are in full force, as you see, and if we would not be witnesses to worse sights than the driving forth of women and children into the streets we will not tarry long. It is early yet, but none too early for our purpose.”
And, indeed, Michelle had hardly exchanged her eggs for some of the homely commodities which a peasant might be supposed to buy, when issuing from a shop across the narrow street Alaine caught sight of her cousin Étienne. “Michelle, Michelle, do not look; my cousin is there on the other side,” the girl said, in a shrill whisper. ”

“ Jean sans Peur never fails to show exaggerated respect to his daughter-in-law, the young princess Michelle of France; he calls her Madame; he bends his knee to the earth before her and at table always tries to help her, which she will not suffer him to do. ”

“ Michelle says we must not, and Mother Angelique says that it is very wrong. It really would not be proper for me to tell you that I would marry you.”
“You shall tell no one else,” he said, fiercely, “and you will have to do it soon or——”
“Or what?” She crept closer to him and laid her hand on his arm.
[23] He looked down at her, the resentment in his face fading into something like compassion. “Listen, Alaine; your father will not come back to-day; one cannot say that he ever will. He has announced himself a Huguenot, and has disappeared, we know not where.” ”

“ Many a scrape have you helped my cousin out of. He would defend you to the last, and so would I, Michelle, Catholic as I am.”
Michelle made no answer. She stood still with her arms clasped around the web of homespun linen which had been bleaching on the grass. Her eyes wandered over the fair fields to the spires of Rouen in the distance, and then to the chateau closer at hand, showing dimly gray through the trees. ”

“ She adores her country, and is readier to be sacrificed than was Jephthah’s daughter. Unluckily, she wishes to love as well as to reign, and, as Madame de Beaumanoir says truly, the woman who is haled this way by love, and the other way by ambition, is marked for disaster. The Princess Michelle wishes all sorts of incompatible things,—to serve, as well as to love and to reign, to search both heaven and hell ”

“ So Barack Obama is going to need you, Michelle Obama is going to need you, Malia and Sasha Obama are going to need you, and millions of children just like them are going to need you rolling up your sleeves and rededicating and recommitting, knowing that the work is going to be tough. But everything you do, every piece of blood, sweat and tears that you pour into the work is going to make the difference in our nation, in our planet. ”

“ For my family and millions of Americans, it’s a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. To reflect on His life and learn from His example. Every year, we commit to love one another. To give of ourselves. ”

“ For my family and millions of Americans, that’s what Christmas is all about. It reminds us that part of what it means to love God is to love one another, to be our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper. But that belief is not just at the center of our Christian faith, it’s shared by Americans of all faiths and backgrounds. It’s why so many of us, every year, volunteer our time to help those most in need, especially our hungry and our homeless. ”

“ This is a season for millions of Americans to be together with family, to continue long-held holiday traditions, and to show our gratitude to those we love. And along the way, some of us might even watch a little basketball or eat some Christmas cookies, too. ”

“ All I know is that it's important for you to be true to yourselves, not to worry too much about what other people are going to think or make of your choices, because everyone will question what you do and tell you you should've done it the other way. ”

“ We are lucky to have such great leadership at a time such as this. But I say this everywhere I go in every agency I've visited and every agency that I will visit: Our leaders are only as strong as those who hold them up, all of you. ”

“ And today, our family will join millions across the country in celebrating the birth of Jesus – the birth not just of a baby in a manger, but of a message that has changed the world: to reach out to the sick; the hungry; the troubled; and above all else, to love one another as we would be loved ourselves.
THE FIRST LADY: We hope that this holiday season will be a chance for us to live out that message—to bridge our differences and lift up our families, friends, and neighbors... and to reconnect with the values that bind us together. ”

“ The issues that you're working on, as you know, affect us all. They affect you, they affect your children, your grandchildren, your friends, your neighbors. And as public servants and stewards of some of America's greatest assets, from our parks and forests to mountains and rivers, you're charged with the sacred task of ensuring that America's resources are used responsibly and protected for future generations. ”

“ Because Barack knows what it means when a family struggles; he knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids; Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it. And he wants everyone in this country – everyone – to have the same opportunity, no matter who we are or where we're from or what we look like or who we love. And he believes that when you've worked hard and done well, and– and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. No, you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. ”

“ I hope that any young people in America who take school for granted – any young people who are slacking off or thinking of dropping out – I hope they will learn the story of these girls and recommit themselves to their education. ”

“ People across the country are counting on you to keep them safe, to help them live their lives, and to put them back to work. We are at the beginning of what will be a long and extraordinary journey. We're going to need each and every one of you. We're going to need one another, not just here in Washington but across the country. ”

“ Michel knelt beside her.
"I say to you: blessed mother you will be on the day you make the happiness of your son!"
"What is there so seductive about those wolves?" cried the baroness.
"By whatever name you call the woman I love," said Michel, "I shall reply to you: she has every quality that a man should seek in a wife; and it is not for you and me, mother, who have suffered so much from calumny, to seize, as readily as you have done, on the calumnies told of others." ”

“ So know that in your struggle to figure these things out as women, as professionals, that you have to do what's right for you at any given time, and that's going to change -- from week to week, from month to month, from year to year.
The question that I hate most that we ask of young people is, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" ”

“ Michelet calls her a nonentity, a stage queen with merely the externals--the attire--of royalty, remaining exactly on a level with the rulers of the smaller Italian principalities, contriving everything and fearing everything, with no more heart than she had sense or temperament. Being a female, she loved her young; she loved the arts, but cared to cultivate only their externalities. In this, however, Michelet goes to an extreme; for no woman ever lived who had so great a talent for intrigues and politics as she--a very type of the deceit and cunning which were inherent in her race. ”

“ He doesn't care whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above. He knows that we all love our country, and he is always ready to listen to a good idea. He's always looking for the very best in everyone he meets.
And, I– I love that even in the toughest moments, when we're all sweating it, when– when we're worried that the bill won't pass and it seems like all is lost– see, Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. No, just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward with patience and wisdom and courage and grace. ”

“ I mean, can you -- you can't legalize people making the choice to stop and help a neighbor, right? I mean, no matter what you do, you can't pass a law that makes somebody do the right thing, right? You can't pass a law that makes a parent read to their child every night. You can't pass a law that, you know, you treat your neighbor with respect and decency. You can't pass laws like that. You know, that comes from all of us deciding in our own communities, in our own individual lives, in our own families, who are we going to be. ”

“ But I'm happy to be here because this issue is something that I have dealt with my whole life, trying to figure out how to juggle work-family balance in the process of getting an education. There isn't a day that goes by, particularly after having kids, that I don't wonder or worry about whether I'm doing the right thing for myself, for my family, for my girls. ”

“ I can honestly say that when it comes to his character and his convictions and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago. You know, he– he's the same man who– who started his career by turning down high-paying jobs, and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, and fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work. Because for Barack, success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's lives. ”

“ Over the past few years as First Lady, I have had the extraordinary privilege of travling all across the country and everywhere I've gone, and the people's met, and the stories I've heard, I have seen the very best of the American spirit. ”

“ You know, that's the difference between being a kid and an adult, you know. I mean, it's not the money you make or the degree that you have, but in many ways it's the choice that you make to be an active and involved and responsible citizen. ”

“ I want to thank you for your sacrifice, because many of you who were public servants have been sacrificing every year, sacrificing within your own families, coming to work when it's hard, and working even harder. So just know that we value you, that America values you, and together we can get this country moving again. ”

“ And as the people's house, we believe the White House should be a place for learning and for sharing new and different ideas, sharing new forms of art and culture, and history and different perspectives. We want you to visit and we want you to take advantage of these opportunities and maybe see something for yourselves that maybe you never thought you could do or be. ”

“ If– if– if farmers and– and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire; if– if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores; if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote; if a generation could defeat a Depression and define greatness for all time; if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream; and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love; then surely– surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream. ”

“ And as President, you're going to get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people, but at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision as President, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are. ”

“ But it's important as a reminder to let people know that the nation's business is carried out by all of you, dedicated public servants like the folks standing behind me, all of you here, who have devoted their careers, who have been doing this work for decades. ”

“ There's no way, by looking on this stage, that you can tell that people have devoted their careers, lifetimes, more than lifetimes -- I know there's some people in this audience who haven't been born half the time that they've been working here, and they are amazing and true representatives of what government work is all about. ”

“ This holiday season at the White House, we wanted to show our thanks with a special holiday tribute to some of the strongest, bravest, and most resilient members of our American family – the men and women who wear our country’s uniform and the families who support them. ”

“ All of our children will grow up in a healthier environment because of the work that you do and the dedication that you bring to the work that you do.
And while the challenges facing our nation are great and there's a lot of work to be done, I am so confident, so very confident, that we'll succeed because we've got devoted professionals like all of you in this room, ready and eager and willing to make the sacrifices to work on behalf of the American people. ”

“ Our theme this year is “A Timeless Tradition,” and the decorations in each room reflect some of our country’s most cherished pastimes – from saluting our troops and their families to helping children dream big dreams for their future.
And we’ve invited thousands of families here to the White House to enjoy the festivities – because there’s no holiday tradition more timeless than opening our doors to others. ”