Joe Biden Quotes

76 Sourced Quotes

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
Tonight, the whole world is watching America. I believe at our best America is a beacon for the globe. And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.

Joe Biden
I've always believed we can define America in one word: possibilities. That in America everyone should be given the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given ability will take them.

Joe Biden
And now, together – on eagle's wings – we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do. With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country – and a thirst for justice – let us be the nation that we know we can be. A nation united. A nation strengthened. A nation healed. The United States of America.

Joe Biden
This is a great nation. And we are a good people. This is the United States of America. And there has never been anything we haven't been able to do when we've done it together.

Joe Biden
We stand again at an inflection point. We have the opportunity to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We can do it. I know we can. I've long talked about the battle for the soul of America. We must restore the soul of America.

Joe Biden
Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail.

Joe Biden
You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent … I'm not joking.

Joe Biden
Things never got better, and Rumsfeld and Cheney never got any wiser. It became increasingly clear that those two men had eroded our country's claim to any moral high ground by flouting the Geneva Conventions. They forced policy decisions that allowed the hideous prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and encouraged the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at our facility in Guantánamo in Cuba. I wasn't shy about hammering Rumsfeld.

Joe Biden
Full disclosure: I do not have absolute faith in the judgment and wisdom of the American people. We're all human, and we can all be misled. When leaders don't level with citizens, we can't expect them to make good judgments. But I do have absolute faith in the heart of the American people. The greatest resource in this country is the grit, the resolve, the courage, the basic decency, and the stubborn pride of its citizens.

Joe Biden
The American story is about the slow, yet steady widening of opportunity. Make no mistake: Too many dreams have been deferred for too long. We must make the promise of the country real for everybody – no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability.

Joe Biden
Our work begins with getting COVID under control. We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality, or relish life's most precious moments – hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us – until we get this virus under control.

Joe Biden
The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season – a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.

Joe Biden
I sought this office to restore the soul of America. To rebuild the backbone of the nation – the middle class. To make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home. It is the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for this vision. And now the work of making this vision real is the task of our time.

Joe Biden
We've learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

Joe Biden
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. [...] Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this.

Joe Biden
I believe in the possibility of this country. We're always looking ahead. Ahead to an America that's freer and more just. Ahead to an America that creates jobs with dignity and respect.

Joe Biden
What we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end now.
On the assault on the Capitol

Joe Biden
The one thing I want my kids to remember about me is that I was an athlete. The hell with the rest of this stuff.

Joe Biden
The fabric of our complex society is woven too tightly to permit any part of it to be damaged without damaging the whole.

Joe Biden
I'm not exploring. I'm in. And this is the beginning of a marathon
Referring to his choice not to set up an "exploratory committee" and instead enter the race directly

Joe Biden
Sleep was like a phantom I was too tired to chase.

Joe Biden
The system wasn't working, and I thought it was time to err on the side of a new model. What might work, I thought, was a system that promoted personal accountability, consistency, and certainty. Congress could say people who committed the same federal crime, under the same circumstances, were going to jail for the same amount of time. We could give judges a narrower set of sentencing guidelines to work with, and felons would be required to pay the same price. We'd be judging the crime, not the person.

Joe Biden
There is never a time when a president can act to stop a tragedy from occurring without being held politically accountable one way or the other. If he does it and fails, he's wrong. If he does it and succeeds, he was never right because it didn't happen. If we go in and stop an act of genocide, we can't prove what we stopped.

Joe Biden
These were al-Qaeda fighters, the first I'd ever seen up close, and they looked like badasses. As I passed on the outskirts of the grid, many of the prisoners stared directly at me. None of them cowered. I've been in a lot of prisons, but these guys showed a ferocity and a hatred unlike any I'd ever seen.

Joe Biden
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....

Joe Biden
It was that hard; I still feel that way. But I believe that President Bush failed to lead. History will judge him harshly not for the mistakes he made- we all make mistakes- but for the opportunities he squandered.

Joe Biden
People ask if I can compete with the money of Hillary and Barack. I hope at the end of the day, they can compete with my ideas and my experience.

Joe Biden
I kept trying to tell people that just because I was young didn't mean I could speak for all young people.

Joe Biden
Rudy Giuliani — there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.

Joe Biden