Joe Biden Quotes

Anyone who‘s traveled with me to Afghanistan knows why I love this book: ‘War,’ by Sebastian Junger.

It is my view that we cannot conduct foreign policy at the extremes.

There is no inherent power in the office of the vice presidency. Zero. None. It’s all a reflection of your relationship with the president. I mean, Kennedy never let Johnson in the office.

The United States, to state the obvious, is greatly concerned by the startling number of unaccompanied minors that – children and teenagers who are making a very perilous journey through Central America to reach the United States.

During the 60’s, I was, in fact, very concerned about the civil rights movement.

Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn’t.

The American people have not become heartless.

Look, freedom is an overwhelming American notion. The idea that we want to see the world, the peoples of the world free is something that all of us subscribe to.

Quite frankly, Russian aggression in Ukraine and its illegal occupation of Crimea remind us that we still have a good deal more work to do to guarantee the strategic vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

No one doubts that innocent men, women and children have been the victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. And there’s no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime.

Let’s just be smart this time. I’m looking for smart.

If you need more than 10 rounds to hunt, and some argue they hunt with that many rounds, you shouldn’t be hunting. If you can’t get the deer in 3 shots, you shouldn’t be hunting. You are an embarrassment.

On the way back from Mumbai to go meet with President Xi in China, I stopped in Singapore to meet with a guy named Lee Kuan Yew, who most foreign policy experts around the world say is the wisest man in the Orient.

America’s commitment to collective defense under Article 5 of NATO is a sacred obligation in our view – a sacred obligation not just for now, but for all time.

My dad used to have an expression – ‘It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.’

You should be attacking the carbon emissions, period, and whether it’s cap-and-trade or carbon tax or whatever, that’s the realm in which we should be playing.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has, as Minister Livni knows, has been my friend for over 30 years. We drive each other crazy. But he has truly been a personal friend for well over 30 years. He acknowledged this.

People everywhere in the world are hungry for economic opportunity. And it’s about a lot more than being able to make money.

No one doubts that innocent men, women and children have been the victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. And there’s no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime.

Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren’t supposed to make money!

Innovation can only occur where you can breathe free.

Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the United States Senate, and I have learned a lot.

Other than being crazy enough to press a button, there is nothing that Putin can do militarily to fundamentally alter American interests.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

The greatest gift is the ability to forget – to forget the bad things and focus on the good.

I’m not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts. You know, that’s not me.

You’ve got to reach a hand of friendship across the aisle and across philosophies in this country.

In my neighborhood, when you’ve got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him.

Just talk to me as a father – not what the Constitution says. What do you feel?

I’ve known and continue to know every one of these major world leaders by their first names, and I have access to them.

You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.

Folks, I can tell you I’ve known eight presidents, three of them intimately.

This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.

I ran for the Senate six times. And one of the things I know about Senate races off years and on races, and on years, the same as governor‘s races, is it’s all local. It all gets down to what the specific issues in that – in that district or that state is.

I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I’m just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.

I have a really close relationship with Mike Bloomberg.

I don’t say very much I don’t really think through. I know that sounds inconsistent with Joe Biden.

You know we’re going to control the insurance companies.

In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.

It’s overwhelmingly in the self-interest of the United States of America to have a secure, democratic friend, a strategic partner like Israel.

There’s one advantage in having been around as long as I have. Everybody in the Senate knows me, and – I’m going to say something presumptuous, to repeat myself – I think most respect me.

The United States supports a strong, united Ukraine with productive and peaceful relationships with both the East and the West, with both Russia and Europe.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

This is absolutely bizarre that we continue to subsidize highways beyond the gasoline tax, airlines, and we don’t subsidize, we don’t want to subsidize a national rail system that has environmental impact.

I’ve been really, really fortunate.

The White House isn’t the place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation.

In the 21st century, the countries that thrive will be the ones where citizens know their voices will be heard because the institutions are transparent.

No nation should stoke instability in its neighbor’s country.

My dad always said, ‘Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.’

One of the things I’ve never been accused of is not caring about people.

Unions did in fact build the middle class. And here’s what that did. That built the United States of America as we know it.

I believe the American people have a genuine and justifiable fear of government intrusion in what they instinctively know is going to be an ever more intrusive world.

I know why we’re strong. I know why we have held together; I know why we are united: it’s because there’s always been a growing middle class.

Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’. The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.

No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It’s because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand – demand – demand change.

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It’s self-defense. It’s patriotism.

In the good old days when I was a senator, I was my own man.

When you go to your local police officer, your police chief in the town you live in, big or small, he will tell you the vast majority of the weapons recovered at a crime scene are either stolen weapons, and/or they have been ‘lost‘ or stolen.

The Recovery Act is working, but it’s going to continue to work. It’s not over. A lot’s going to happen this summer. And even after the summer, there’s more to come with the act.

You know, my Grandpop Finnegan used to have an expression: he used to say, ‘Joey, the guy in Olyphant’s out of work, it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother-in-law‘s out of work, it’s a recession. When you’re out of work, it’s a depression.’

Except for the title ‘father,’ there is no title, including ‘vice president,’ that I am more proud to wear than that of United States senator.

You get a lawyer whether you’re in a military tribunal or whether you’re in a federal court, number one. The attorney general decided that the court with the biggest – with the greatest venue, with the best jurisdiction was the New York court. That was the right decision to make.

We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line. Don’t forget it.

Let me tell you what I literally told every world leader I’ve met with, and I’ve met them all: It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.

Here at home, when Americans were standing in long lines to give blood after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we squandered an obvious opportunity to make service a noble cause again, and rekindle an American spirit of community.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.

Arafat’s departure has created an awesome opportunity.

I have an expression I use as I’ve gone around the world through my career: ‘You never tell another man or woman what’s in their interest. They know their interest better than you know their interest.’

Over the objections, where they sound like squealing pigs, over the objections of Romney and all his allies, we passed some of the toughest Wall Street regulations in history, turning Wall Street back into the allocator of capital it always has been and no longer a casino. And they want to repeal it.

A gaffe in Washington is someone telling the truth, and telling the truth has never hurt me.

ISIS is not an existential threat to something happening to someone in the United States of America. It’s a serious problem overseas, but it’s confusing and frightening.

I support immediate financial assistance to the newly elected Palestinian president. Now, I don’t know what those numbers will be, and I don’t know how it’s going to be framed.

There’s no political point worth my son’s life.

‘Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars.’ Guess what? Yes, we do in one regard: We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super-wealthy. That’s not a tax raise. That’s called fairness where I come from.

We’re going to be OK because of the American people. They have more grit, determination and courage than you can imagine.

The 21st century is going to be the American century. Because we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. That is the history of the journey of America.

Abe Foxman has been a friend and advisor of mine for a long time.

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.

I was kind of secretly hoping one of my kids would go out and make a million bucks. So when they put me in a home, at least I’ll have a window with a view.

Foreign policy is like human relations, only people know less about each other.

Don’t hold against me that I don’t own – that I don’t own a single stock or bond. Don’t hold it – I have no savings accounts.

The Chinese have figured out that they have a giant environmental problem. Folks in Beijing, some days, literally can’t breathe. Over a million Chinese die prematurely every year because of air pollution.

I love that Cadillac ATS!

Saudi Arabia has allowed training on its soil of American forces.

Social Security‘s not the hard one to solve. Medicare, that is the gorilla in the room, and you’ve got to put all of it on the table.

It’s presumptuous to say you know how somebody feels.

Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.

You never make fun of anybody with a club foot or a withered arm, but it’s open season on anybody who stutters.

Corruption is just another form of tyranny.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

America doesn’t have health insurance.

The American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand.

Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It’s you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you.