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Al Gore
112 quotes
“We Americans write our own history. And the chapters of which we're proudest are the ones where we had the courage to change. Time and again, Americans have seen the need for change, and have taken the initiative to bring that change to life.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Democratic National Convention (28 August 1996).
“The day I made that statement, I was tired because I had been up all night inventing the Camcorder.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joking about reports that he had claimed to have invented the internet, as quoted in The Boston Globe (9 April 1999).
“It was clear to me that men and women were equal — if not more so.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A joke used during his campaign speeches, about childhood impressions of hearing his parents arguing; as quoted in "Gore Campaign, Trailing Among Women, Sharpens Its Pitch to Them" by Melinda Henneberger in The New York…
“I'm very familiar with the importance of dairy farming in Wisconsin. I've spent the night on a dairy farm here in Wisconsin. If I'm entrusted with the presidency, you'll have someone who is very familiar with what the Wisconsin dairy industry is all about.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Chatter at 40,000 Feet" by Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post (14 June 2000).
“I have ridden the mighty moon-worm!”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guest appearance on Futurama episode "Crimes of the Hot" (10 November 2002).
“More important than his record as a debater is Mr. Bush's record as a president. And therein lies the true opportunity for John Kerry — notwithstanding the president's political skills, his performance in office amounts to a catastrophic failure.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How to Debate George Bush" in The New York Times (29 September 2004).
“American troops and American taxpayers are shouldering a huge burden with no end in sight because Mr. Bush took us to war on false premises and with no plan to win the peace.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: How to Debate George Bush" in The New York Times (29 September 2004).
“Please don't recount this vote.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Webby Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech (limited to 5 words) (6 June 2005).
“We would not have invaded a country that did not attack us. We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Commenting to reporters in Sweden on how the US would have been different if he had won the controversial 2000 election, as quoted in "Gore: 'Absolutely no plans' to run again for president" USA Today (12 October 2005)
“The very first words that we, the American nation, spoke were right here in Philadelphia. You know those words: "We the people." It wasn't, "We the conglomerates." It wasn't, "We the corporations." It was, "We the people.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by the Philadelphia Daily News (21 October 2005).
“In the Congress as a whole-both House and Senate-the enhanced role of money in the re-election process, coupled with the sharply diminished role for reasoned deliberation and debate, has produced an atmosphere conducive to pervasive institutionalized corruption. The Abramoff scandal is but the tip of a giant iceberg that threatens the integrity of the entire legislative branch of government.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Martin Luther King Day address, Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. (16 January 2006).
“I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On global warming, as quoted in "Al Revere: An interview with accidental movie star Al Gore" by David Roberts in Girst.org (9 May 2006).
“My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis, it's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act, that's a renewable resource, let's renew it.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Academy Award acceptance speech (21 February 2007).
“The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, "Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem." If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Testimony before Congress (21 March 2007), as quoted in "Gore Implores Congress To Save The Planet" at CBS Evening News (21 March 2007)
“I'm involved in a different kind of campaign myself — to make sure that the climate crisis is the number one issue on the agenda of candidates in both parties. And I know that sounds like an unrealistic goal right now, but I will wager that by the time the elections of November 2008 come around, it will be the number one issue in both parties.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Al Gore: 'The Assault on Reason' in America" on Things Considered at NPR (25 May 2007).
“I've chosen not to challenge the rule of law, because in our system there really is no intermediate step between a Supreme Court decision and violent revolution. When the Supreme Court makes a decision, no matter how strongly one disagrees with it, one faces a choice — are we, in John Adams' phrase, a nation of laws, or is it a contest made on raw power?”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Gore Sees No Reason to Run" by Patrick Healy in The New York Times (25 May 2007).
“I've kind of fallen out of love with politics. … Whatever experience and talents I've gained over the years — I think it may well be that the highest and best use of that is to try to bring enough awareness of the solutions to the climate crisis and enough of a sense of urgency that we come together across party lines on behalf of our children.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Gore: I've 'fallen out of love with politics'" at CNN (6 July 2007).
“There's an old African proverb that says "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." We have to go far — quickly. And that means we have to quickly find a way to change the world's consciousness about exactly what we're facing, and why we have to work to solve it.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press conference at an Alliance for Climate Protection meeting (12 October 2007), after winning the Nobel Peace Prize (Video at YouTube).
“The great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, wrote, "One of these days, the younger generation will come knocking at my door." The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: "What were you thinking; why didn't you act?" Or they will ask instead: "How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nobel Prize lecture, 10 December 2007.
“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more — if more should be required — the future of human civilization is at stake.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Generational Challenge to Repower America speech, July 17, 2008.
“The entire North polar ice cap may well be completely gone in 5 years. How can we comprehend the world in 3 billion years the period of time during which it has existed to 5 years the period of time during which it is expected to now disappear?”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the opening of a German natural history museum (13 December 2008)
“These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr. [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don't add up”, Hannah Devlin, Ben Webster, Philippe Naughton in Copenhagen, London Times, (15 December 2009) speech at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference
“Like an audience entertained by a magician, we allow ourselves to be deceived by those with a stake in persuading us to ignore reality.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Without a Trace" (review of The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert), New York Times Sunday Book Review, 10 February 2014, page BR1
“Over a year ago I changed my diet to a vegan diet, really just to experiment to see what it was like. And I felt better, so I continued with it. Now, for many people, that choice is connected to environmental ethics and health issues and all that stuff, but I just wanted to try it to see what it was like. In a visceral way, I felt better, so I've continued with it and I'm likely to continue it for the rest of my life.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Al Gore on Medicine's Inconvenient Truths", interview with Eric Topol, page 7 of 8, in Medscape (7 March 2014)
“This is a time of great opportunity for our country. Our economy is the envy of the world. Living standards are rising — and the gap between the rich and the poor is closing for the first time in 20 years. America is a powerful engine for the global economy, because we have met our responsibility to balance our budget, to begin paying down our debt, and to embrace our role in supporting free markets and economic growth among all nations.”
“For all of my career, I have believed that America has a responsibility to lead in the world. That's why I was one of only a few Democrats in the United States Senate to vote in support of the use of force to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.”
“We are now in a new era. To label this time "the post-Cold War era" belies its uniqueness and its significance. We are now in a Global Age. Like it or not, we live in an age when our destinies and the destinies of billions of people around the globe are increasingly intertwined. When our grand domestic and international challenges are also intertwined. We should neither bemoan nor naively idealize this new reality. We should deal with it.”
“Today, at the dawn of the 21st Century, we need a foreign policy that addresses the classic security threats — and understands the new ones as well. We need a new approach for a new century — grounded in our own economic and security interests, but uplifted by what is right in the world. We need to pursue a policy of "forward engagement" — addressing problems early in their development before they become crises; addressing them as close to the source of the problem as possible; and having the forces and resources to deal with those threats as soon after their emergence as possible.”
“First, America must have a strong defense. We must never forget that our national defense is about much more than the land within our borders. Just as we fought and conquered totalitarianism during World War Two — just as we fought and conquered communism during the Cold War — we are defending the idea of freedom itself.”
“But we need not only a new generation of weapons. We need a new generation of thinking. That means strengthening and renewing our key alliances.”
“In the Global Age, we must be prepared to engage in regional conflicts selectively — where the stability of a region important to our national security is at stake; where we can assure ourselves that nothing short of military engagement can secure our national interest; where we are certain that the use of military force can succeed in doing so; where we have allies willing to help share the burden, and where the cost is proportionate. America cannot be the world's policeman. But we must reject the new isolationism that says: don't help anywhere, because we can not help everywhere.”
“We need to intensify cooperation with civilized governments all over the world to combat the common threat of terrorism.”
“I believe that now we have a profound responsibility to open the gates of opportunity for all the world's people so that they can become stakeholders in the kind of society we would like to build at large in the world and at home. Let me be clear: promoting prosperity throughout the world is a crucial form of forward engagement. We know how to launch this renaissance — for what has worked to spark the economic boom here in the United States is, at its essence, the way we can spark the fires of growth abroad. The difference is one of degree, not kind.”
“We must also promote global access to the Internet. We need to bridge the digital divide not just within our country, but among countries. Only by giving people around the world access to this technology can they tap into the potential of the Information Age.”
“We need not only open trading systems, but systems that work for people around the world — taking into account not only the bottom line, but the well-being of working men and women, the protection of children against sweatshop labor, and the protection of the environment.”
“I believe that we must not waste this moment. A responsible foreign policy must look outward from a stance of forward engagement, to our broadest hopes for the world — not just inward, to our narrowest fears. A responsible foreign policy must harness all our economic and military might — but it must also make use of our values and principles.”
“If we meet our great responsibility, I believe we can not only deter aggression and create an ever more secure and widening world of security — but we can also shape, step by step, a future of liberty and opportunity across the world.”
“Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States. And I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time. I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so that we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we've just passed.”
“This has been an extraordinary election. But in one of God's unforeseen paths, this belatedly broken impasse can point us all to a new common ground, for its very closeness can serve to remind us that we are one people with a shared history and a shared destiny.”
“I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am too. But our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country. And I say to our fellow members of the world community, let no one see this contest as a sign of American weakness. The strength of American democracy is shown most clearly through the difficulties it can overcome.”
“This is America. Just as we fight hard when the stakes are high, we close ranks and come together when the contest is done. And while there will be time enough to debate our continuing differences, now is the time to recognize that that which unites us is greater than that which divides us. While we yet hold and do not yield our opposing beliefs, there is a higher duty than the one we owe to political party. This is America and we put country before party; we will stand together behind our new president.”
“I've seen America in this campaign, and I like what I see. It's worth fighting for and that's a fight I'll never stop. As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe, as my father once said, that "No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out.”
“If yesterday marked the five month anniversary of the darkest day in American history, today — the Day After — must mark the anniversary of one of the greatest days in American history: because on September 12, a bruised and battered nation began to fight back. Some fought back by rushing to aid and rescue the few surviving victims of the tragedy — and to aid and comfort the grieving and bereaved.”
“What are the next steps in the war against terrorism? And beyond immediate next steps, what is the longer-range plan of action? And finally, what should be done to deal with root causes of this threat?”
“Disrespect, the feeling that what one has to offer in life has been rejected, the feeling that one has joined history's losers can make us as human beings more vulnerable to evil.”
“We must acknowledge that the utter poverty of hundreds of millions of people is not a matter for compassion only, but a threat in the long term to the growth and vigor of the global economic system. We must see it as a part of our charge to help create economic opportunity so that the gap between the richest and poorest does not grow ever wider.”
“One of the truly bad things about our politics is that it incites each administration to attack every last thing its predecessor has done, and to either tear down what was left or rename it so that its parentage can be forgotten. We did some of that — but we also kept a lot of what we inherited from the first Bush administration and we protected it and built upon it. The struggle against terror may last for a very long time, even past a shift of parties in power.”
“I'm going to be candid with you. I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election. But you know the old saying: you win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category. But I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think that I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future, because I know from my own experience that America's a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.”
Al Gore (born 1948) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring here to the controversial US presidential election of 2000
“I sincerely ask those watching at home tonight who supported President Bush four years ago: did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for? Is our country more united today? Or more divided? Has the promise of compassionate conservatism been fulfilled? Or do those words now ring hollow? For that matter, are the economic policies really conservative at all? For example, did you expect the largest deficits in history, year after year? One right after another? And the loss of more than a million jobs?”
“Regardless of your opinion at the beginning of this war, isn't it now abundantly obvious that the way this war has been managed by the administration has gotten us into very serious trouble? Wouldn't we be better off with a new President who hasn't burned his bridges to our allies, and who can rebuild respect for America in the world? Isn't cooperation with other nations crucial to solving our dilemma in Iraq? Isn't it also critical to defeating the terrorists?”