Fascinating, compelling, and superb.

Just like Michelle Obama herself, these are the words that escaped my lips after I’ve finished her empowering memoir-slash-documentary.

Becoming is a captivating account of her life at the White House, from the perspective of a First Lady. As someone who was born from a working-class African American family, Michelle is a living proof of shattering the glass ceiling.

Being a girl with big dreams isn’t enough. BECOMING that woman who achieved her ambitions and still open to transformations is what she is. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Michelle became a corporate lawyer in a legal practice where she met her husband and former President Barack Obama.

If you haven’t read the book or watched the documentary, here are 10 quotes to spark your curiosity about Becoming.

Michelle On Dreams

โ€œDo we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Identity

โ€œIf you donโ€™t get out there and define yourself, youโ€™ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Evolution

โ€œFor me, becoming isnโ€™t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesnโ€™t end.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Failure

โ€œFailure is a feeling long before itโ€™s an actual result.โ€โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Your Story

โ€œYour story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Time

โ€œTime, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Patiences

โ€œWe were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Control

โ€œThe lesson being that in life you control what you can.โ€โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Bullies

โ€œBullies were scared people hiding inside scary people.โ€โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On Dominance

โ€œDominance, even the threat of it, is a form of dehumanization. Itโ€™s the ugliest kind of power.โ€ โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Michelle On What Others Think

โ€œThis may be the fundamental problem with caring a lot about what others think: It can put you on the established pathโ€”the my-isnโ€™t-that-impressive pathโ€”and keep you there for a long time.โ€โ€• Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

Marge Serrano