I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in Brooklyn. It's what gave me my drive to succeed, the upward mobility I've been after my whole life.

Not every seed planted in rich soil grows, nor every seed planted in poor soil fails. That is why we need public education.

If we are serious about providing upward mobility and building a skilled workforce, pre-school is the place to begin.

My story is the story of many postwar British families. Upward mobility. A council house and then new affluence.

[Comedian Colin Quinn said that having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio, King's subsequent prison term was] upward mobility. ... look like the three stages of a forest fire.

The problem, gentlemen, is that Obama is right: The promise of upward mobility is dying in America, and no amount of political demagoguery will fix it.