Bill Clinton - American Quotes

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A hundred years from tonight, another American president will stand in this place and report on the State of the Union. He—or she—(applause)—he or she will look back on a 21st century shaped in so many ways by the decisions we make here and now. So let it be said of us then that we were thinking not only of our time, but of their time; that we reached as high as our ideals; that we put aside our divisions and found a new hour of healing and hopefulness; that we joined together to serve and strengthen the land we love.

Bill Clinton
NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good paying American jobs. If I
didn't believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement.

Bill Clinton
Let us never forget the greatest untapped market for American enterprise is right here in America, in the inner cities, in the rural areas.

Bill Clinton
We set forth on a journey to bring our vision to our country, to keep the American dream alive for all who are willing to work for it, to make our American community stronger, to keep America the world's strongest force for peace and freedom and prosperity.

Bill Clinton
Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We, the American people, we are the solution.

Bill Clinton
We still have too many Americans who give in to their fears of those who are different from them. Not so long ago, swastikas were painted on the doors of some African-American members of our Special Forces at Ft. Bragg. They are special forces. They do not deserve to have swastikas on their doors.

Bill Clinton
From the small clubs of the Harlem Renaissance where he began playing saxophone to world tours for the biggest of the big bands, Benny Carter redefined American jazz. From the start, his fellow musicians said the way he played the sax was amazing. They say that about me, too. (Laughter.) But I don't think they mean it in quite the same way.

Bill 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.

Bill Clinton
Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. These allegations are false, and I need to go back to work for the American people.

Bill Clinton
When we make college more affordable, we make the American dream more achievable.

Bill Clinton
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a relentless, questioning, hopeful people.

Bill Clinton
It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine: First and most important, my family; also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people. I have asked all for their forgiveness.

Bill Clinton
Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.

Bill Clinton
African Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do.

Bill Clinton
When we give what we can, and give it with joy, we don't just renew the American tradition of giving, we also renew ourselves.

Bill Clinton
I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service.

Bill Clinton
What we have to do now is not to forget these people and places when all the cameras are not there. I think that's the most important message I can say to the American people right now.

Bill Clinton
We need a steady stream of cash. The American people have been uncommonly generous.

Bill Clinton
Today, I want to talk about Social Security and how all of us can ensure that one of the greatest achievements of this century continues to serve our people well into the next.... For 60 years, Social Security has meant more than an ID number on a tax form; more than a monthly check in the mail. It reflects our deepest values - our respect fr our parents and our belief that all Americans deserve to retire with dignity.

Bill Clinton
We need a new spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this this together, or the American Dream will continue to wither. Our destiny is bound up with the destiny of every other American.

Bill Clinton
The American people have spoken—but it's going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.
On the US presidential election

Bill Clinton
Americans have more freedom and broader rights than citizens of almost any other nation in the world, including the capacity to criticize their government and their elected officials. But we do not have the right to resort to violence — or the threat of violence — when we don't get our way. Our founders constructed a system of government so that reason could prevail over fear. Oklahoma City proved once again that without the law there is no freedom. Criticism is part of the lifeblood of democracy. No one is right all the time. But we should remember that there is a big difference between criticizing a policy or a politician and demonizing the government that guarantees our freedoms and the public servants who enforce our laws.

Bill Clinton
No one wants to get this matter behind us more than I do—except maybe all the rest of the American people.

Bill Clinton
It is time to heal America. And so we must say to every American: Look beyond the stereotypes that blind us. We need each other. All of us, we need each other. We don't have a person to waste. And yet for too long politicians have told the most of us that are doing all right that what's really wrong with America is the rest of us. Them. Them, the minorities. Them, the liberals. Them, the poor. Them, the homeless. Them, the people with disabilities. Them, the gays. We've gotten to where we've nearly "them"ed ourselves to death. Them and them and them. But this is America. There is no them; there's only us. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.

Bill Clinton
I don't know whether it's the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the American penal system.

Bill Clinton