You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.

We verify this as Michelle Obama’s line from her February 2007 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft, preserved in CBS News coverage of Barack Obama’s early presidential campaign and Secret Service protection. Asked about the danger her husband might face as a Black candidate, she said that Barack could be shot “going to the gas station,” then added, “So, you know, you can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. We just weren't raised that way.” The commonly circulated quotation drops the opening filler words and the following sentence, but the quoted core wording is present in the interview record. We found no credible competing author or earlier source; later self-help and quotation books appear to be derivative uses of the CBS-preserved Michelle Obama remark.