Joe Biden Quotes
American - Vice President Born: November 20, 1942

Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen's faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.
Joe Biden

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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

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

Corruption is just another form of tyranny.
Joe Biden

We didn't crumble after 9/11. We didn't falter after the Boston Marathon. But we're America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

My father used to have an expression. He'd say, 'Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in your community.'
Joe Biden

The greatest gift is the ability to forget - to forget the bad things and focus on the good.
Joe Biden

I know I'm not supposed to like muscle cars, but I like muscle cars.
Joe Biden

For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.
Joe Biden

Innovation can only occur where you can breathe free.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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

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.
Joe Biden

One of the things I've never been accused of is not caring about people.
Joe Biden

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

For any young democracy, the most difficult but important step is burying the legacy of tyranny and establishing an economy and a government and institutions that abide by the rule of law. Every country faces challenges to the rule of law, including my own.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'
Joe Biden

Most liberals think of civil liberties as their Achilles heel. It isn't.
Joe Biden

Presumptuous for me to say, but at least - at a minimum - I've been able to influence the direction of the Democratic Party on foreign policy. And I've been relatively - presumptuous to say - relatively successful legislatively in the Senate, being able to win a lot of Republican friends, and being able to cross the aisle.
Joe Biden

I guess every single word I've ever said is going to be dissected now.
Joe Biden

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

You are twice as likely to be struck by lightning as you around to be affected by a terrorist event in the United States.
Joe Biden

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

You want to know whether we're better off? I've got a little bumper sticker for you: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive! Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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

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

Let's just be smart this time. I'm looking for smart.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn't be playing football.
Joe Biden

Reality has a way of intruding. Reality eventually intrudes on everything.
Joe Biden

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

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

I've been waiting over 40 years to come to Cyprus, and it has not disappointed - the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Crossroads of Civilization, and, I might add, a genuine strategic partner to the United States of America.
Joe Biden

Our future cannot depend on the government alone. The ultimate solutions lie in the attitudes and the actions of the American people.
Joe Biden

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.
Joe Biden

The devastating punch we took on September 11th still reverberates throughout American society.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.'
Joe Biden

The effects of climate change are real and must be acted on.
Joe Biden

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

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.
Joe Biden

Life is a matter of really tough choices.
Joe Biden

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.'
Joe Biden

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

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it's funny. And it's not funny. It's not.
Joe Biden

The American people have not become heartless.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

The only thing I know is I ain't changing my brand. I know what I believe. I'm confident in what I know. And I'm gonna say it. And if folks like it, wonderful. If they don't like it, I understand.
Joe Biden

No one ever doubts that I mean what I say. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean.
Joe Biden

America's experience, like many others, teaches us that fostering entrepreneurship is not just about crafting the right economic policy or developing the best educated curricula. It's about creating an entire climate in which innovation and ideas flourish.
Joe Biden

No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised, whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

In this world, emotion has become suspect - the accepted style is smooth, antiseptic and passionless.
Joe Biden

Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend. She is qualified to be President of the United States of America. She's easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America.
Joe Biden

In Romania, American forces have found a devoted NATO ally.
Joe Biden

Arafat's departure has created an awesome opportunity.
Joe Biden

The Middle East is hopeful. There's hope there.
Joe Biden

In the middle of a recession, where we're just climbing out of it, where the economy -unemployment is still at 9.7 percent, the idea of raising taxes and reducing spending is a prescription for disaster.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

Most Americans think there's already universal background checks. They don't understand why there wouldn't be a background check to purchase a weapon.
Joe Biden

We Americans think, in every country in transition, there's a Thomas Jefferson hiding behind some rock or a James Madison beyond one sand dune.
Joe Biden

No nation should threaten its neighbors by massing troops along the border.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.'
Joe Biden

But I was amazed at how organized the Palestinian election authority was, how competent they were in setting up their polling places and the poll workers they had.
Joe Biden

There's no political point worth my son's life.
Joe Biden

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

America doesn't have health insurance.
Joe Biden

The American public's a lot more sophisticated than we all give them credit for. And on complicated issues, I'm going to give them straight answers. And if it takes more than three minutes, I'm going to do it.
Joe Biden

My recollection is - and I'd have to confirm this - but I don't recall paying any money to go to law school.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn't mean I won't run.
Joe Biden

In my heart, I'm confident I could make a good president.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

Barack Obama is probably the most exciting candidate that either the Democratic or Republican party has produced at least since I've been around. He's fresh, he's new, he's insightful.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

I graduated from the University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

I love that Cadillac ATS!
Joe Biden

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

Global energy security is a vital part of America's national security.
Joe Biden

Romania can be a linchpin in delivering gas to its neighbors and even become an energy exporter for its neighbors across Central and Eastern Europe.
Joe Biden

We're close friends - the American people, the Israeli people, our governments. There's absolutely no daylight - none - between us and the Israelis on the question of Israel's security.
Joe Biden

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras have all agreed to send additional consular officers from Guatemala, from Honduras, from El Salvador, send them to the U.S. border so that we can more quickly and humanely identify unaccompanied children and process their individual removal.
Joe Biden

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

It is no secret that I believe my son, Attorney General Beau Biden would make a great United States Senator - just as I believe he has been a great Attorney General. But Beau has made it clear from the moment he entered public life, that any office he sought, he would earn on his own.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

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.
Joe Biden

I was not an activist.
Joe Biden

It's presumptuous to say you know how somebody feels.
Joe Biden

When we wrote the Constitution, the intention was to give the commander in chief the authority how to use the forces when you authorize him to be able to use the forces.
Joe Biden

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

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

I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.
Joe Biden

I exaggerate when I'm angry, but I've never gone around telling people things that aren't true about me.
Joe Biden

You're president, if you conclude my judgment is not the right judgment, I abide by that, but I want an opportunity to have an input.
Joe Biden

If you're in a confined aircraft; when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.
Joe Biden