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Joe Biden
541 quotes
“(W)hen it comes to issues like abortion, amnesty, and acid, I'm about as liberal as your grandmother. I don't like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body. I support a limited amnesty, and I don't think marijuana should be legalized.”
“I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace—someone who's not afraid to stand up and offend people, someone who wouldn't pander but would say what the American people know in their gut is right.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Philadelphia Enquirer (Oct. 12, 1975) Alana Goodman, Joe Biden once said Democrats needed ‘a liberal George Wallace’ (Feb. 7, 2019), Washington Examiner
“I do not buy the concept, popular in the ’60s, which said, ‘We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers. In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back, to even the race.’ I don't buy that. I don't feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation ls today, for the sins of my own generation. And I'll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.”
“Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1651 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Busing of schoolchildren (Jun. - Jul. 1977): hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, on S. 1651.
“During the '60s, I was in fact very concerned about the civil rights movement. I was not an activist. I worked at an all-black swimming pool in the east side of Wilmington, Delaware. I was involved. I was involved in what they were thinking, what they were feeling. I was involved, but I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma, I was not anywhere else. I was a suburbanite kid who got a dose of exposure to what was happening to black Americans in my own city.”
“For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community. For too long as a nation, we have been lulled by the anthem of self-interest. For a decade, led by Ronald Reagan, self-aggrandizement has been the full-throated cry of this society: 'I've got mine, so why don't you get yours' and 'What's in it for me?'”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign speech announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
“We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society — for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference. We must reclaim the tradition of community in our society. Only by recognizing that we share a common obligation to one another and to our country can we ever hope to maximize our national or personal potential. We must reassert the oneness of America. America has been and must once again be the seamless web of caring and community.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign speech announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
“The standard of judgment is no longer results but the flickering image of seriousness, skillfully crafted to squeeze into 30 seconds on the nightly news. In this world, emotion has become suspect - the accepted style is smooth, antiseptic and passionless.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the national debate, Campaign speech announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
“It is an exciting and dangerous time, for this generation of Americans has the opportunity so rarely granted to others by fate and history. We literally have the chance to shape the future - to put our own stamp on the face and character of America, to bend history just a little bit.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the national debate, Campaign speech announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
“Biden took on the idea that Hill's failure to come forward with complaints suggested that the incidents did not occur. "I wonder how many tens of thousands of millions of men in this country work for a boss who treats them like a lackey, tells them to do certain things, and stay on the job, and we never ask, 'Why does that man stay on the job. . . , ' " he said. "I don't know why we have so much trouble understanding the pattern of a victimized person.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "4 Testify Hill spoke years ago of harassment", (Washington Post, October 14, 1991)
“Every time Richard Nixon, when he was running in 1972, would say, 'Law and order,' the Democratic match or response was, 'Law and order with justice' — whatever that meant. And I would say, 'Lock the SOBs up.'”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joe Biden in 1993
“The truth is, every major crime bill since 1976 that’s come out of this Congress, every minor crime bill, has had the name of the Democratic senator from the State of Delaware: Joe Biden.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joe Biden in 1994
“If Haiti, a God-awful thing to say, if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot in terms of our interest.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in '1994, U.S. Invasion of Haiti', by Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept, (27 April 2021)
“You and I both know, and all of us here really know, and it's a thing we have to face, that the only way, the only way we're going to get rid of Saddam Hussein is we're going to end up having to start it alone — start it alone — and it's going to require guys like you in uniform to be back on foot in the desert taking this son of a — taking Saddam down. You know it and I know it.”
“But I respectfully suggest, Major, that the responsibility is slightly above your pay grade, to decide whether to take the nation to war alone, or to take the nation to war part way, or to take the Nation to work half-way. That is a real tough decision.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Scott Ritter, in hearings about the disarmament process, before the Senate Committee on Armed Services (September 1998), quoted in
“Alan Cranston understood power not as a reflection of status but as a tool with a purpose.”
“Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, in my view, is one of those clear dangers. Even if the right response to his pursuit is not so crystal clear, one thing is clear. These weapons must be dislodged from Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein must be dislodged from power.”
“He made a compelling case. The predominance of the evidence, the pure weight of the evidence, I think anyone. ... Let me put it this way, if I were back practicing law I can’t imagine I could not convince an open-minded jury of the facts that he presented as having been true.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Biden on Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations. Biden’s Record on Iraq War from FactCheck.org (February 5, 2003)
“Hell, I might be president now if it weren't for the fact I said I had an uncle who was a coal miner. Turns out I didn't have anybody in the coal mines, you know what I mean? I tried that crap — it didn't work.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (July 28, 2004)
“It's going to be very difficult. I do not view abortion as a choice and a right. I think it's always a tragedy, and I think that it should be rare and safe, and I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions. There ought to be able to have a common ground and consensus as to do that.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Texas Monthly interview, 2006, quoted in
“I voted for a fence, I voted, unlike most Democrats — and some of you won't like it — I voted for 700 miles of fence,... And the reason why I add that parenthetically, why I believe the fence is needed does not have anything to do with immigration as much as drugs. And let me tell you something folks, people are driving across that border with tons, tons, hear me, tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin and it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: South Carolina rotary club (November 27, 2006), quoted in
“You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent ... I'm not joking.”
“I'm running for president because I think that, with a lot of help, I can stem the tide of this slide and restore America’s leadership in the world and change our priorities. I will argue that my experience and my track record — both on the foreign and domestic side — put me in a position to be able to do that. I would respectfully suggest to you that the Democrats out there understand I am the only person with a plan that can get out of Iraq without our interests in the region not falling apart.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conference call with reporters after announcing candidacy for the 2008 Democratic president nomination (January 30, 2007)
“I'm not exploring. I'm in. And this is the beginning of a marathon”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to his choice not to set up an "exploratory committee" and instead enter the race directly; interview on ABC News after announcing candidacy for the 2008 Democratic president nomination (January 30, 2007)
“There's good reason to be excited. You have the first woman running who is qualified, and a very attractive African-American who has demonstrated crossover appeal. I got involved in politics 40 years ago during the civil rights movement, so yes, it's an exciting thing.”
“The average voter out there understands that the next president is going to have to be prepared to immediately step in without hesitation and end our involvement in Iraq. It's very difficult to figure out how to move on to broader foreign policy concerns without fixing Iraq first.”
“People ask if I can compete with the money of Hillary and Barack. I hope at the end of the day, they can compete with my ideas and my experience.”
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
“[T]here's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Rudy Giuliani, Democratic primary debate (October 30, 2007)
“The one thing I want my kids to remember about me is that I was an athlete. The hell with the rest of this stuff.”
“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with CBS Evening News. CBS Evening News (September 22, 2008)
“When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, "Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it." Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Biden-Palin Vice Presidential debates, October 2, 2008
“No, Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. No, we do not support that.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joe Biden at the 2008 Vice Presidential debate, when asked if he and Barack Obama support gay marriage. Biden-Palin Vice Presidential debates (October 2, 2008)
“We all know- or at least we are told continually- that we are a divided people. And we know there's a degree of truth in it. We have too often allowed our differences to prevail among us. We have too often allowed ambitious men to play off those differences for political gain. We have too often retreated behind our differences when no one really tried to lead us beyond them. But all our differences hardly measure up to the values we all hold in common... I am running for the Senate because... I want to make the system work again, and I am convinced that is what all Americans really want.”
“Full disclosure: I do not have absolute faith in the judgment and wisdom of the American people. We're all human, and we can all be misled. When leaders don't level with citizens, we can't expect them to make good judgments. But I do have absolute faith in the heart of the American people. The greatest resource in this country is the grit, the resolve, the courage, the basic decency, and the stubborn pride of its citizens.”
“I wasn't built to look the other way because the law demanded it. The law might be wrong.”
“I had no place to go. It was up or out.”
“I knew I had to be sure-footed about the issues I was talking about. When you're twenty-nine years old, who the hell is going to think you're credible? It wasn't enough to have ideas; I had to know my facts. I had to demonstrate command from the minute I started running. I understood that was the test I had to pass.”
“The fabric of our complex society is woven too tightly to permit any part of it to be damaged without damaging the whole.”
“I didn't argue that the war in Vietnam was immoral; it was merely stupid and a horrendous waste of time, money, and lives based on a flawed premise.”
“When seagull droppings landed on my head at a campaign event at Bowers Beach two days before Election Day, I chose to read it as a sign of a coming success.”
“The first few days I felt trapped in a constant twilight of vertigo, like in the dream where you're suddenly falling... only I was constantly falling. In moments of fitful sleep I was aware of the dim possibility that I would wake up, truly wake up, and this would not have happened.”
“Most of all I was numb, but there were moments when the pain cut through like a shard of broken glass. I began to understand how despair led people to just cash it in; how suicide wasn't just an option but a rational option.”
“I kept trying to tell people that just because I was young didn't mean I could speak for all young people.”
“A better man might have handled the situation with more grace than I did. A better man would have been able to separate his personal life from his career.”
“There is a great deal of pressure, in the one particular area at least, to prostitute our ideas, if not our integrity.”
“Sleep was like a phantom I was too tired to chase.”
“A convicted felon who had strong family ties, a stake in the community, and an education might get probation, while a man who had few family ties, little stake in the community, and little education might draw a ten-year sentence for the same crime.”
“The system wasn't working, and I thought it was time to err on the side of a new model. What might work, I thought, was a system that promoted personal accountability, consistency, and certainty. Congress could say people who committed the same federal crime, under the same circumstances, were going to jail for the same amount of time. We could give judges a narrower set of sentencing guidelines to work with, and felons would be required to pay the same price. We'd be judging the crime, not the person.”
“I think I instinctively understood that my most important duty was to be a target. People were desperate to vent their anger, and if they could yell at a united States senator, all the better. Part of being a public servant, I came to understand in 1978, was absorbing the anger of people who don't know where to turn. If I couldn't solve the problem for them, I had to at least be an outlet.”