Joe Biden Quotes

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


2. Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.

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

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

5. If you do politics the right way, I believe, you can actually make people's lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game.


6. 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.

7. I believe all Americans are born with certain inalienable rights. As a child of God, I believe my rights are not derived from the constitution. My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist. They were given to me and each of my fellow citizens by our creator, and they represent the essence of human dignity...

8. (mistakenly referring to Justice John Paul Stevens, who swore him in as vice president, Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009) Jill and I had the great honor of standing on that stage, looking across at one of the great justices, Justice Stewart.

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

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

11. Israel has no better friend than Joe Biden.

12. 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.

13. 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.







14. 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.

15. 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.


16. The American people have not become heartless.

17. The Middle East is hopeful. There's hope there.

18. 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.

19. The Iraqis have become invested in their nationhood.

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

21. There's a lot of revisionist history that goes on these days about Iraq.

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

23. 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.

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





25. 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.

26. (explaining his whereabouts (dropping deadwood at the dump) to the reporters outside his home, Wilmington, Del., Aug. 20, 2008) A successful dump!

27. There's no political point worth my son's life.

28. America doesn't have health insurance.

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

30. 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.

31. We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.

32. (referring to Barack Obama at the beginning of the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Jan. 31, 2007) 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.

33. 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.


34. Arafat's departure has created an awesome opportunity.

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

36. (David) Axelrod really wanted me to do this on teleprompter - but I told him I'm much better when I wing it. I know these evenings run long, so I'm going to be brief. Talk about the audacity of hope. President Obama does send his greetings, though. He can't be here tonight - because he's busy getting ready for Easter. He thinks it's about him.

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

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

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

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





41. 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.

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





43. You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number? I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed.

44. 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!

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



46. 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.

47. If your kitchen table is like mine, you sit there at night before you put the kids to bed and you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.

48. 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.



49. No matter how you cut it, this real debate on personal accounts is about the legitimacy of Social Security; it's not about the solvency of Social Security.

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




51. (in a private remark to an Indian-American man caught on C-SPAN, June, 2006 ) 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.

52. If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barrel shotgun. You don't need an AR-15. It's harder to aim, it's harder to use, and in fact, you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun.

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




54. Look at what they (Republicans) value, and look at their budget. And look what they're proposing. (Romney) said in the first 100 days, he's going to let the big banks write their own rules - unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y'all back in chains.

55. 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.

56. 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!

57. Kinda scary man, the black helicopter crowd is really upset. No way that Uncle Sam can go find out whether you own a gun because we're about to really take away all your rights and you're not going to be able to defend yourself and we're going to swoop down with Special Forces folks and gather up every gun in America. It's bizarre. But that's what's being sold out there.

58. 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.


59. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence - a noun, a verb, and 9/11.

60. Well, I'm telling them two things. One is that, look, this is going to be something when the American people realize - once it's passed - that, A, it does take care of preexisting conditions; B, you're insurance rates aren't going to skyrocket; C, the insurance companies aren't going to be running the show like they were before; D, you're going to be in a position where you can keep your insurance that you have. That once the American public realizes that, you're going to get a reward for this. They're going to be rewarded.

61. Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.

62. Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.

63. You know we're going to control the insurance companies.





64. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?

65. 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.




66. There is a paranoia out there. The facts are, there's not a single solitary thing that we have proposed…this argument that there's absolutely any constitutional violation is absolutely not there.

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


68. I should start with an apology to Rudy Giuliani. I said every sentence Rudy utters has a noun, a verb, and 9/11 in it. I was wrong. He called me to tell me after Pat Robertson's endorsement, there's an Amen in every sentence he says too.

69. 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.

70. I promise you, the president has a big stick. I promise you.







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

72. (apparently unaware that FDR wasn't president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and that only experimental TV sets were in use at that time, interview with Katie Couric, Sept. 22, 2008) 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".

73. There is a whole new sort of group of individuals now…that never hunt at all. But they own guns for one of two reasons - self-protection, or they just like the feel of that AR-15 at the range. They like the way it feels. It's like driving a Ferrari, you know.


74. 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.

75. (giving a one-word answer during a Democratic debate to NBC Anchor Brian Wiliams, who cited criticism of Biden's "uncontrolled verbosity" and tendency to be a "gaffe machine" in asking whether he would "have the discipline you would need on the world stage") Yes.




76. Folks, you're the reason that the automobile industry is back. Whether it was the wage freezes, the plant closures, folks, you sacrificed to keep your companies open. Because of your productivity, the combined auto companies have committed to invest another $23 billion in expansion in America.

77. (mocking Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' botched effort to swear in Barack Obama as Biden was set to swear in White House senior staff one day after the Inauguration snafu, Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2009) Am I doing this again? For the senior staff? My memory is not as good as Chief Justice Roberts'.

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

79. You know, they make fun of my saying about use a shotgun if someone's invading your home - guess what, use a shotgun on someone invading your home and you don't kill your kids - use an AR-15, it goes through your wall and it can kill your kid in the bedroom.

80. (to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair, Columbia, Missouri, Sept. 12, 2008) Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya.



81. I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.

82. I got tested for AIDS. I know Barack got tested for AIDS. There's no shame in being tested for AIDS. It's an important thing.





83. 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.

84. (caught on an open mic congratulating President Barack Obama during the health care signing ceremony, Washington, D.C., March 23, 2010) This is a big fucking deal!

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

86. (on the mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who is very much alive, Washington, D.C., March 17, 2010) His mom lived in Long Island for ten years or so. God rest her soul. And - although, she's - wait - your mom's still - your mom's still alive. Your dad passed. God bless her soul.

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

88. 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.

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

90. 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.

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

92. I have never left another senator out to dry. Never.

93. 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.

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





95. 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.

96. I was not an activist.

97. (providing handy tips to protect against the swine flu and freaking us out, "Today Show" interview, April 30, 2009) I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places 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.

98. 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.


99. (at his first campaign rally with Barack Obama after being announced as his running mate, Springfield, Ill., Aug. 23, 2008) A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States - Barack America!

100. 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.

101. (caught on a live mic speaking to a former Senate colleague after arriving on Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, D.C., March 13, 2009 ) An hour late, oh give me a f**king break.

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

103. 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.

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

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






106. 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.

107. Life is a matter of really tough choices.


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