10 Lessons Barack And Michelle Obama Taught Us About Love

1. Cute Only Lasts For So Long.

"He was always special, you know? And not special, like, he's gonna be important, he's gonna be president. He was special in terms of his honesty, his sincerity, his compassion for other people. Cute's good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, Who are you as a person? That's the advice I would give to women: Don't look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn't know. And, more important, how does he treat you?

You should never doubt yourself. You shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who doesn't make you completely happy and make you feel whole. And if you're in that relationship and you're dating, then my advice is, don't get married. Get out of it. And find that person who brings you complete and utter joy with who you are at the moment." -- (Michelle Obama inGlamour Magazine, December 2009)

2. Fall In Love With His Character

"When I first met Barack, we started dating, he had everything going for him. All right, ladies, listen to this. This is what I want you to be looking for. Yes, he was handsome--still is. I think so. He was charming, talented, and oh-so smart, truly. But that is not why I married him. What truly made me fall in love with Barack Obama was his character. You hear me? It was his character. It was his decency, his honesty, his compassion and conviction." -- (Michelle Obama speaking at "Morgan State University in Maryland", September 2012)

3. If you can work through the tough times, the love and respect you have for each other deepens.

"We've been married now twenty years, and like every marriage you have your ups and you have your downs, but if you work through the tough times the respect and love that you feel deepens." -- (President Barack Obama on Barbara Walter, December 2012)

4. 'Netflix and Chill' is not an appropriate first date.

Our first date, I took her to the Art Museum, at the Art Institute. I was trying to impress her and show her I was a culturally sensitive guy, and it worked. So I'm giving tips to the young men out there… -- (President Obama "Dinner With Barack and Michelle", March 2012)

5. If you have a strong foundation, it will be hard for a job or change in social status to ruin the relationship.

"Our life before moving to Washington was filled with simple joys. Saturdays at soccer games, Sundays at grandma's house and a date night for Barack and me was either dinner or a movie, because as an exhausted mom, I couldn't stay awake for both. And the truth is, I loved the life we had built for our girls and I deeply loved the man I had built that life with and I didn't want that to change if he became president. I loved Barack just the way he was.

You see, even though back then Barack was a senator and a presidential candidate, to me, he was still the guy who'd picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by in a hole in the passenger side door. He was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too small.

"So when people ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, 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." -- (Michelle Obama's Democratic Nation Convention speech, September 2012)

6. Always make time for the little things...

"We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I'm usually in bed before anybody…He'll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss, and we'll talk. He's like, Ready to be tucked? I'm like, Yes I am.

That has always been a tradition. It is just one of the many ways that Barack shows me and the girls how special we are, and that's the thing that touches me about him. I don't care what's on his plate, I don't care what he's struggling with, when he steps off that elevator into our residence, he is Barack, and Dad. There's just those little things that you do that reminds ya, "I still got ya." -- (Michelle Obama on "The View", May 2012)

7. Trust and loyalty means everything.

"I do care deeply about my husband. I am one of his biggest allies. I am one of his biggest confidants. --( Michelle Obama in an interview with Gayle King "CBS News", January 2012)

8. It's okay to upgrade or be upgraded!

"Michelle's like Beyoncé in that song, 'Let me upgrade ya!' She upgraded me. There's no doubt I'm a better man having spent time with Michelle." - (Barack Obama in "Vogue Magazine" April 2013)

9. Refuse to get so comfortable that you forget about the things that made you fall in love in the first place -- especially date nights

"Family is not just two folks raising kids, but it's two people building a life together […] We learned how to sustain our relationship at a distance which is why carving out that time, making sure we have Friday or Saturday date nights and making sure it's just not going to a movie. You can't talk at a movie, you can't ask the questions and look them in the eye.

So we usually go out to dinner and what I've found interesting is that our girls like it. My oldest daughter says it makes me feel good to see you and dad hold hands, you know, and we forget about that. We think that they don't care about that but they like the fact that they know that we love each other. That gives them security. So sometimes you lose sight of that when you think, 'well as long as are taking care of the kids, the kids are okay.' The kids want you to have a life together, they want to know that my mother and father love each other and if they love each other that much, they are going to love me." --(Michelle Obama, "TV One" Interview, 2009)

10. There's nothing wrong with dating potential (just make sure they aren't a potential problem )

Via actor Hill Harper: "There's a fourth year attorney at a very prominent Chicago law firm who's doing extremely well, she's on her way to becoming partner. A guy wants to date her, who had just gotten out of school, didn't have a job, had a car with a hole in it. Had no money but she's a very successful lawyer and she's actually practicing in her hometown where she has incredible relationships. He's not even from the town, he doesn't know anybody.

She saw potential in him. In fact, she saw it so much that when they were married, she was the primary breadwinner in the family for the first 10 maybe more years in the family.

Now he's the President of the United States and she's the first lady. That is dating potential!" -- (Actor Hill Harper Speaks on The Obama's on The Steve Harvey Show, 2010)

Beautiful! Which moment inspired you the most?