Biden Quotes & Sayings

Hilary Clinton might have been a better pick than me. — Joe Biden

Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden. — Madeleine Albright

John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off, be well off no matter who ... — Joe Biden

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. — Joe Biden

You're going to hear a lot from President Obama and yes, from Joe Biden, you're hearing a little bit about Medicare these days. What they will not tell you is they turned Medicare into a piggybank to fund 'Obamacare.' They took $716 billion dollars to pay for the 'Obamacare' program. — Paul Ryan

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

I know the polling data shows people have a negative view but if you listen to everything out there, you think, my God. We're in such deep trouble. We created more jobs than every other industrial country in the world combined. — Joe Biden

I never had an interest in being a mayor 'cause that's a real job. You have to produce. That's why I was able to be a senator for 36 years. — Joe Biden

I love that Cadillac ATS! — Joe Biden

Vote for war allowed war only after all else failed. — Joe Biden

When I said clean, I meant he [Barack Obama] was bright. Like when [Donald] Trump said about Carly [Fiorina], "face" he meant "persona." — Joe Biden

We see ... a future where no one-no one-is forced to live in the shadows of intolerance. — Joe Biden

Vice President Joe Biden said today that 'Syria must be held accountable.' Unfortunately, the Obama administration has never employed an accountant, so they have no idea how to do that. — Jay Leno

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

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

It's easy being vice president - you don't have to do anything. — Joe Biden

My position is that I am personally opposed to abortion, but I don't think I have a right to impose my view on the rest of society. I've thought a lot about it, and my position probably doesn't please anyone. I think the government should stay out completely. I will not vote to overturn the Court's decision. I will not vote to curtail a woman's right to choose abortion. But I will also not vote to use federal funds to fund abortion. — Joe Biden

I think what Pope Francis is saying is that nobody's perfect, you know? And so someone like Joe Biden, you know, where - you know, when he was running for president, people were - there were some bishops that were like don't let him have the Eucharist. And Pope Francis is saying that's not the point of this. — Jim Gaffigan

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor brought critical qualities to the high court that not everybody thinks are qualities - I happen to think they are - her pragmatism and her state craft. — Joe Biden

As a community college professor for over twenty years, I've seen the determination, resilience and dedication of countless students. Regardless of circumstances, they show up. They work hard. They believe anything is possible. — Jill Biden

Everyone plagiarizes me. Ever since I wrote my autobiography. — 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

In a new interview, the president discussed the upcoming election. He said that Hillary Clinton is going to do great as a presidential candidate. When asked how Biden would do, Obama said, 'Hillary's going to do great.' — Jimmy Fallon

Sure, we have an obstacle, ISIS. They can do great damage. They can do great damage and they scare the living hell out of everybody with good reason. But they are, instead of dealing with nation-states that are arranged against us, we're to deal with non-state actors that can do damage to us. But this is within our control. We are beginning to make genuine progress as to how we isolate them, how we take them out. We're in a situation - I mean, I just could go on. But I am - the only generic criticism I had is we're not talking about the possibilities. — Joe Biden

There's no reason the nation of Africa cannot and should not join the ranks of the world's most prosperous nations in the near term, in the decades ahead. There is simply no reason. — Joe Biden

We don't want two-tier people in America. Those who are legal but not citizens, and citizens. — Joe Biden

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

(On Barack Obama) 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. — Joe Biden

You're looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am. — Joe Biden

Quoting from Neil Kinnock, running against Thatcher in 1987:
Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Is it because all our predecessors were thick? Did they lack talent? Those people who could sing, and play, and recite, and write poetry, those people who could make wonderful things with their hands? Those people who could dream dreams, see visions? Why didn't they get it? Was it because they were weak? Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football? Weak? Those women who could survive eleven childbearings? Were they weak? Anybody really think that they didn't get what we have because they didn't have the talent, or the strength, or the endurance, or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform on which they could stand. — Joe Biden

Joe Biden was spotted with a bruise on his face that was apparently caused by his dog. I guess they collided when they both went after the same tennis ball. — Jimmy Fallon

US Vice President Joe Biden gave the US government's real view of its regional and Syrian allies with undiplomatic frankness when speaking at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University's Institute of Politics on October 2. He told his audience that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and UAE were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war. What did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. — Patrick Cockburn

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

Just because you think the path that's right for you might be lonelier, longer or less destined for traditional success than paths taken by others, don't be afraid to take it. If you choose your means well you will end up in the right place. — Beau Biden

The moral disapprobation of society has an impact on behavior in societies. — Joe Biden

To start to look more focused on the good that's been done and can be done. — Joe Biden

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. — Joe Biden

And Bobby [Jindal] and I are both Catholics. — Joe Biden

They're just beginning to change - Drug companies. — Joe Biden

There will come a day, I promise you, when the thought of your son, or daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner than later. — 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

When you question a man's motives, when you say they are acting out of greed, they are in the pocket of an interest group, et cetera. It's awful hard to reach consensus. It's awful hard to reach across the table and shake hands. No matter how bitterly you disagree, though, it is always possible if you question judgment and not motive. — Joe Biden

Sarah Palin has managed to use her failed vice presidential run to put herself in a position of power and influence. Joe Biden won the race and he hasn't been able to put himself in a position of power and influence. — Craig Ferguson

How I Learned to Love the New World Order — Joe Biden

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference. — 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

Senator Joe Biden is pretty clean and articulate for a white guy. — Barack Obama

Everyone working 40 hrs a week should have a shot at a decent life. — Joe Biden

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

In the 17 years since I graduated from this great College of Law, I have seen that, for many of us, it becomes increasingly easy to rationalize our actions in the name of expediency when facing difficult decisions-to choose a path where the ends justify the means. I want to ask you to challenge Machiavelli's philosophy. I want to humbly suggest that you be the guardians of a more complicated truth: that the means are as important-and sometimes even more important-than the ends. — Beau Biden

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

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

I would be surprised if Donald Trump got elected. — Joe Biden

I also acknowledge that prejudice runs very deep in our society. And, in the real world, discrimination rears its ugly head in the shadows, where it's very difficult to root it out. — Joe Biden

We also wanted to change the story - change the approach to the 21st century on energy, on education, on transportation, on infrastructure, generally, and it laid the groundwork for that. And one of the reasons I'm doing this trip is not only to say what we did worked, but to say we should do more of this. — Joe Biden

Don't listen to the cynics. They were wrong about my generation and they were wrong about yours. — Joe Biden

A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States - Barack America! — Joe Biden

The Democratic Party had failed (in 1983)
'to remember waht got us this far and how we got here
moral indignation, decent instincts, a sense of shared sacrifice and mutual responsibility, and a set of national priorities that emphasized what we had in common.. The Party that was the engine of the national interest
molding our pluralistic interest into a compelling new social contract that served the nation well for fifty years
became perceived as little more than the broker of narrow special interests. Instead of thinking of ourselves as Americans first, Democrats second, and members of interest groups third, we have begun to think in terms of special interests first and the greater interest second.. We have let our opponents set the agenda and define what is at stake.
p. 140 — Joe Biden

I am not a theologian, nor am I a priest or a minister, but I think building walls is fundamentally contrary to what made this country what it is. We're a pluralistic society in its functions. — 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

I was not an activist. — Joe Biden

To be an ally is a formal military alliance. And we have a formal military alliance in NATO. But we are partners with other countries all across the world. And they're - they will be a partner. — Joe Biden

There's less than one percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than four of five percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with. — Joe Biden

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

I must express protest against continually increasing the debt without taking positive steps to slow its growth. — 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

People took the word "clean" out of context. My mother had an expression: "clean as a whistle, sharp as a tack." I inherited her originality. — Joe Biden

My mother believed and my father believed that if I wanted to be president of the United States, I could be, I could be Vice President! — 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

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

I've been calling for more troops for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that. — 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

Should we have border security there? Yes. But the idea of the United States erecting a wall for the world to see makes a lie of everything we say about ourselves. It's a little bit like why the President [Barack Obama] and I feel so strongly about closing Guantanamo. It is inconsistent with who we are. — Joe Biden

Vice President Biden's surprising declaration of unqualified support for gay marriage seems to have forced President Obama into a public endorsement of a controversial social issue. It is difficult not to suspect that Biden's pronouncement aimed to give the president some political cover. — Robert Dallek

There arent any jobs left in America except for the good kind ... Blow Jobs. — Joe Biden

America doesn't have health insurance. — Joe Biden

It is the most vicious of all crimes - to be abused by someone you had a relationship with! Because then you blame yourself. — Joe Biden

I didn't deserve to be president just based on the Richter scale of 'Was I tough enough and did I understand the process?' — Joe Biden

I wouldn't go anywhere in confined spaces now. When one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway. — Joe Biden

What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself. You're crazy. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden. — Clint Eastwood

In presidential campaign I released a 65-page file from the Syracuse University College of Law that showed poor grades, back in college, also. If I were plagiarizing consistently, my grades would have been better. — Joe Biden

You've all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character - one of the finest presidents we have ever had. — Joe Biden

Senator John Stennis:
The civil rights movement did more to free the white man that the black man ... It freed my soul. — 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

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

I actually prepared Vice President Biden for his debate in the last election. I played Sarah Palin. It's a little tough debating a woman. — Jennifer Granholm

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 Turks ... the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? — Joe Biden

Like most of us, Joe Biden has had moments when he's led the league in mistakes or verbal gaffes. The difference is his were on a public stage where explanations are almost always made out by pundits to be excuses. — Mike Barnicle

had never heard a president explicitly frame a decision as a direct order. With the American military, it is completely unnecessary. As secretary of defense, I had never issued an "order" to get something done; nor had I heard any commander do so. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, in his book It Worked for Me, writes, "In my thirty-five years of service, I don't ever recall telling anyone, 'That's an order.' And now that I think about it, I don't think I ever heard anyone else say it." Obama's "order," at Biden's urging, demonstrated, in my view, the complete unfamiliarity of both men with the American military culture. That order — Robert M. Gates

Ever since John Kennedy, Democrats have had a weakness for dashing younger men like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, I suppose, Jimmy Carter. They balance their tickets with senior statesmen - Lyndon Johnson, Joe Biden, Walter Mondale. (Al Gore was young but played ancient). — Joe Klein

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

Income inequity has to be addressed. — Joe Biden

If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30% chance we're going to get it wrong. — 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

I can't wait to see the debate between Ryan and Joe Biden. Biden is said to be already trying out different strategies. So far the one that Obama likes is where Biden pretends to have food poisoning and they cancel the debate. — Craig Ferguson

I'm joking, I'm joking. Best decision I ever made. — Joe Biden

I think Joe Biden made correct decision for him and his family. Personally,I would rather run agianst Hillary [Clinton] because her record is so bad. — Donald Trump

Israel has no better friend than Joe Biden — Joe Biden

Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.
Joe Biden, speaking at a town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, Sept. 10, 2008 — Joe Biden