William J. Clinton Quotes & Sayings

Globalisation is not something that we can hold off or turn off: it is the economic equivalent of a force of nature - like wind or water. — William J. Clinton

President Obama's record on national security is a tribute to his strength, and judgment, and to his preference for inclusion and partnership over partisanship. — William J. Clinton

The more children see of violence, the more numb they are to the deadly consequences of violence. Now, video games like 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Killer Instinct,' and 'Doom,' the very game played obsessively by the two young men who ended so many lives in Littleton, make our children more active participants in simulated violence. — William J. Clinton

I personally don't believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending, either one, until we get this economy off the ground. I'll pay more, but it won't solve the problem. — William J. Clinton

When, President Bush asks me to go with his father to the Tsunami impacted areas and help raise money, I was thrilled to do that, because I think we have to always keep looking for common ground. — William J. Clinton

I am trying to be honest with you and it hurts me. Now ... — William J. Clinton

And I'd like to say to the Senate, I hope you will say yes to a stronger American democracy in the year 2000. — William J. Clinton

It is now conceivable that our children's children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars. — William J. Clinton

You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president. — William J. Clinton

Sharing in God's blessings is at the heart of Thanksgiving and at the core of the American spirit. — William J. Clinton

Almost makes you want to go to jail out here, doesn't it? — William J. Clinton

Think of the great spirits of the last 50 years: Ghandi killed, not by a Pakistani Muslim, but one of his own Hindus, who hated him because he wanted India for the Muslims, the Sikhs, for everybody; Sadat, killed by the organization that Mr. bin Laden's No. 2 heads now, not by an Israeli, but by an Egyptian. My friend Yitzhak Rabin
after a lifetime defending Israel, killed
not by a Palestinian terrorist, but an angry Israeli because he wanted to lay down arms and take up peace ... Fanatics are defined by their hatreds; free people by their humanity. — William J. Clinton

I experimented with marijuana a time or two. — William J. Clinton

I ask you to join in a re-United States. We need to empower our people so they can take more responsibility for their own lives in a world that is ever smaller, where everyone counts ... We need a new spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together, or the American Dream will continue to wither. Our destiny is bound up with the destiny of every other American. — William J. Clinton

We have a chance here to prove that [Rwanda], a country that almost slaughtered itself out of existence, can practice reconciliation, reorganize itself, focus on tomorrow and provide comprehensive, quality health care with minimal outside help. — William J. Clinton

I have never believed we had to choose between either a clean and safe environment or a growing economy. Protecting the health and safety of all Americans doesn't have to come at the expense of our economy's bottom line. And creating thriving companies and new jobs doesn't have to come at the expense of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, or the natural landscape in which we live. We can, and indeed must, have both. — William J. Clinton

People like change in general, but not in particular. — William J. Clinton

Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors; he will make war on his own people. And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them. — William J. Clinton

Music can give you your dreams. It will teach you hard work, it will break your heart and make you so happy, you can't stand it ... I don't think I'd have been president if it hadn't been for music. — William J. Clinton

It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. — William J. Clinton

On the Glass-Steagall thing, like I said, if you could demonstrate to me that it was a mistake, I'd be glad to look at the evidence. But I can't blame [the Republicans]. This wasn't something they forced me into. I really believed that given the level of oversight of banks and their ability to have more patient capital, if you made it possible for [banks] to go into the investment banking business as continental European investment banks could always do, that it might give us a more stable source of long-term investment. — William J. Clinton

The ideals that bind us together are as old as our nation, but so are the forces that pull us apart. — William J. Clinton

The earth is warming at an alarming rate, we are running out of fossil fuels, and it is long past time for us to take action to correct these problems. — William J. Clinton

The world knows of Rosa Parks because of a single, simple act of dignity and courage that struck a lethal blow to the foundations of legal bigotry. — William J. Clinton

Being President is a little like being the grounds-keeper at a cemetery: there's plenty of people below you but no one's listening. — William J. Clinton

Politics is for people who are too ugly to get into showbusiness. — William J. Clinton

If President Reagan could be an actor and become president, maybe I could become an actor. I've got a good pension. I can work for cheap. — William J. Clinton

I think you have you to give people the facts [about global warming], and then you have to tell them, this is not like drinking Castor Oil. There is a, an economically exciting way for us to create a whole new generation of American jobs without costing them an enormous amount of money or forcing them to change their lifestyle. — William J. Clinton

So we, Democrats, have a responsibility there, every one of us, both to try to treat the Republicans with respect and as human beings to try to work with them on every issue we can, and then if those cannons are fired at us, we've got to stand up and fight back. If you lay down and you look like a deer caught in the headlights, then you will confirm the assault. And so we have to fight back. — William J. Clinton

To the extent that our workers compete with low-paid Mexicans, it is as much through undocumented immigration as trade. This pattern threatens low-paid, low-skill U.S. workers. The combination of domestic reforms and NAFTA-related growth in Mexico will keep more Mexicans at home. It is likely that a reduction in immigration will increase the real wages of low-skilled urban and rural workers in the United States. — William J. Clinton

At the same time, old confrontations have taken on frightening urgency, especially the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir and the violent stalemate in the Middle East. Progress on these and other global challenges requires us to develop a larger strategy for American foreign policy, rooted in a fundamental commitment to move the world from interdependence to an integrated global community committed to peace and prosperity, freedom and security. — William J. Clinton

Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that. — William J. Clinton

I don't believe you can find any evidence of the fact that I have changed government policy solely because of a contribution. — William J. Clinton

Thanks to the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have a government for the Information Age, once again a government that is a progressive instrument of the common good, rooted in our oldest values of opportunity, responsibility and community, devoted to fiscal responsibility, determined to give our people the tools they need to make the most of their own lives in the 21st century, a 21st century government for 21st century America. — William J. Clinton

Old or young, healthy as a horse or a person with a disability that hasn't kept you down, man or woman, Native American, native born, immigrant, straight or gay - whatever; the test ought to be I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. I believe in religious liberty. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in working hard and playing by the rules. I'm showing up for work tomorrow. I'm building that bridge to the 21st century. That ought to be the test. — William J. Clinton

When I think about the world I would like to leave to my daughter and the grandchildren I hope to have, it is a world that moves away from unequal, unstable, unsustainable interdependence to integrated communities - locally, nationally and globally - that share the characteristics of all successful communities. — William J. Clinton

Torture must only be hypothetical exception, not US policy. — William J. Clinton

True Excellence requires a worthy dream, a good Idea of how to realize it and the courage to risk failure to achieve it. — William J. Clinton

Our bridge to the future must include bridges to other nations, because we remain the world's indispensable nation to advance prosperity, peace and freedom and to keep our own children safe from the dangers of terror and weapons of mass destruction. — William J. Clinton

We are more connected than ever before, more able to spread our ideas and beliefs, our anger and fears. As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged. — William J. Clinton

By lifting the weakest, poorest among us, we lift the rest of us as well. — William J. Clinton

Simply put, unsustainable debt is helping to keep too many poor countries and poor people in poverty. — William J. Clinton

[W]hen Galileo discovered he could use the tools of mathematics and mechanics to understand the motion of celestial bodies, he felt, in the words of one imminent researcher, that he had learned the language in which God recreated the universe. Today we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, the wonder of God's most devine and sacred gift. — William J. Clinton

The conservative Republican governors tend to be more oriented toward trying to work with Democrats and getting things done. — William J. Clinton

To avoid having bad things happen, learning to manage your anger and to actually share how you really feel about something, and get it behind you is one of the most important aspects of growing up. — William J. Clinton

You can't blame the administration and the Republicans for taking us back to deficits, for spending the Social Security surplus and assaulting the environment. That's what they promised to do in the last election. — William J. Clinton

The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people. — William J. Clinton

The future is not an inheritance, it is an opportunity and an obligation. — William J. Clinton

When I became president with a commitment to reform health care, Hillary was a natural to head the health care task force. You all know we failed because we couldn't break a Senate filibuster. Hillary immediately went to work on solving the problems the bill sought to address one by one. — William J. Clinton

I want the ability to monitor high-tech communications among far-flung terrorists. I want to be able to have our people learn their plans before they strike. That's the key. — William J. Clinton

Our big goal should be to make connection to the Internet as common as connection to telephones is today. — William J. Clinton

The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit. — William J. Clinton

I am in support of the NRA position on gun control. — William J. Clinton

It is wrong, and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws that we have seen ... in recent years. There is too much of it, and we must do much more to stop it." "The fact is that employer sanctions have been in the law ... since 1986 but no prior administration has made a serious attempt to enforce them. — William J. Clinton

The era of big government is over. — William J. Clinton

I am grateful to President George W. Bush for PEPFAR, which is saving the lives of millions of people in poor countries and to both Presidents Bush for the work we've done together after the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake. — William J. Clinton

Mike Adams' assertion that I grabbed Chelsea's (backside) is both false and defamatory. I think we can all agree that Chelsea is not nearly as hot as Ms. Lewinski. The charges simply lack any indicia of credibility. I demand an apology. And I also demand a cigar. — William J. Clinton

The divide of race has been America's constant curse. Each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction, are no different. They have nearly destroyed us in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. They torment the lives of millions in fractured nations around the world. These obsessions cripple both those who are hated and, of course, those who hate, robbing both of what they might become. — William J. Clinton

I can spend your money better than you can. — William J. Clinton

African Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do. — William J. Clinton

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it! — William J. Clinton

If you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of change is how many people's lives are better, you know it's hard, and some people think it's boring. — William J. Clinton

Being gay, the last time I looked, had nothing to do with reading a balance book, fixing a broken bone or changing a spark plug. — William J. Clinton

Do you think I'd be stupid enough to go running with someone I was foolin' with? — William J. Clinton

I liked working with Republicans. We had five pretty good years after we had that bad year in '95 that culminated in two government shutdowns. But then they really decided that they liked being in the majority for the first time in forty years, and they wanted to get some things done, and I agreed, to get things I wanted. It was all perfectly transparent. Everybody knew what they wanted and what I wanted. — William J. Clinton

A world without walls is the only sustainable world ... If the world is dominated by people who believe that their races, their religions, their ethnic differences are the most important factors, then a huge number of people will perish in this century. — William J. Clinton

Downsizing budgets may be necessary, but downsizing dreams is a decision to be disappointed. — William J. Clinton

Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents. — William J. Clinton

Just try to imagine what it would be like to be 300 million years old. — William J. Clinton

A lot of wonderful people love their country and hate the military. — William J. Clinton

All my life I've been interested in other people's stories. I wanted to know them, understand them, feel them. — William J. Clinton

This is one way that wealthy Americans could really contribute. They could put hundreds of millions of dollars into the infrastructure bank, be a good investment for them, for their children, for their grandchildren, and they would directly contribute to revitalizing a big sector of middle-class wages in America and making our country more productive, so that we could create more opportunity. But I think that we could get a lot of grassroots support from, like, local chambers of commerce and other things if they understood exactly how this infrastructure bank would work. — William J. Clinton

If you want to be forgiven, you have to extend forgiveness, even to people who aren't smart enough to ask for it. — William J. Clinton

Keep your eyes on the prize and don't turn back. — William J. Clinton

You need to know that a member of Congress who refuses to allow the minimum wage to come up for a vote made more money during last year's one-month government shutdown than a minimum wage worker makes in an entire year. — William J. Clinton

If you want to know where I come by the passionate commitment I have to bringing people together without regard to race, it all started with my grandfather. — William J. Clinton

My plan after office is to get up and spend that entire first day helping my wife move into her new senatorial office. — William J. Clinton

First, I worry about climate change. It's the only thing that I believe has the power to fundamentally end the march of civilization as we know it, and make a lot of the other efforts that we're making irrelevant and impossible. — William J. Clinton

It is inconceivable that anyone could say we have tried to hide anything — William J. Clinton

Rarely have Americans lived through so much change, in so many ways, in so short a time. Quietly, but with gathering force, the ground has shifted beneath our feet as we have moved into an Information Age, a global economy, a truly new world. — William J. Clinton

Sarah, there's a government inside the government, and I don't control it. — William J. Clinton

Nearly everyone will lie to you given the right circumstances. — William J. Clinton

[Illegal immigration] costs the taxpayers of the United States a lot of money. And it's unfair to Americans who are working every day to pay their own bills. It's also unfair to a lot of people who have waited in line for years and years in other countries to be legal immigrants. — William J. Clinton

In our efforts to battle terrorism and cyber attacks and biological weapons, all of us must be extremely aggressive. We must protect our people from danger and keep America safe and free. — William J. Clinton

To build a twenty-first-century economy, America must revive a nineteenth-century habit
investing in the common, national economic resources that enable every person and every firm to create wealth and value. — William J. Clinton

One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line. — William J. Clinton

I hate it when people blame someone else and don't take responsibility. — William J. Clinton

Our military superiority is so great - it's far greater than it was in the Gulf War, and the Gulf War was over in 100 hours after we bombed for 43 days ... Now they can bomb for a couple of days and then just roll into Baghdad ... The odds are there's going to be a war and it's going to be not for very long. — William J. Clinton

I issued a number of denials to people I thought needed to hear them — William J. Clinton

Let us rededicate ourselves to the principle that all Americans have the tools to make the most of their God-given potential. For Indian tribes and tribal members, this means that the authority of tribal governments must be accorded the respect and support to which they are entitled under the law. It means that American Indian children and youth must be provided a solid education and the opportunity to go on to college. It means that more must be done to stimulate tribal economies, create jobs, and increase economic opportunities. — William J. Clinton

There is nothing more precious to a parent than a child, and nothing more important to our future than the safety of all our children. — William J. Clinton

That is, we're into a whole new world with the Internet, and whenever we sort of cross another plateau in our development, there are those who seek to take advantage of it. So this is a replay of things that have happened throughout our history. — William J. Clinton

From New Hampshire forward, for reasons that absolutely mystified me, the press thought the most important issue in the race was the middle class tax cut. I never did meet any voter who thought that. — William J. Clinton

I want to say to you is that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson did not intend to drive a stake in the heart of religion and to drive it out of our public life. What they intended to do was to set up a system so that we could bring religion into our public life and into our private life without any of us telling the other what to do. — William J. Clinton

Nothing in our lifetimes has been more heartening than when people of the former Soviet Union and Central Europe broke the grip of communism. We have aided their progress and I am proud of it. — William J. Clinton

No wonder Americans hate politics when, year in and year out, they hear politicians make promises that won't come true because they don't even mean them - campaign fantasies that win elections but don't get nations moving again — William J. Clinton

The Information Age is, first and foremost, an education age, in which education must start at birth and continue throughout a lifetime. Last year, from this podium, I said that education has to be our highest priority. I have something to say to every family listening to us tonight: Your children can go on to college ... Because of the things that have been done, we can make college as universal in the 21st century as high school is today. And, my friends, that will change the face and future of America. — William J. Clinton

More important than the deficit, more important then healthcare-more important than anything-we have got to do something about our energy strategy. Because if we permit the climate to continue to warm at an unsustainable rate, and if we keep on doing what we're doing until we're out of oil and we haven't made the transition, then it's inconceivable to me that our children and grandchildren will be able to maintain the American way of life and that the world won't be much fuller of resource-based wars of all kinds. — William J. Clinton

I think it's very important, and I think that what young people will learn from my experience is that even presidents have to do that and there are consequences when you don't. But I also think that there will be a box score, and there will be that one negative, and then there will be the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times when the record will show that I did not abuse my authority as president, that I was truthful with the American people. — William J. Clinton

You live in a country that makes it harder to raise children than any other country in the world. You vote for me and I'll give you family values. — William J. Clinton