The senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, then it’s a pretty good detour. Hubert Humphrey, as quoted by Biden, p. 134
But all our differences hardly measure up to the values we all hold in common…
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.
To me this is the first principle of life, the foundational principle, and a lesson you can’t learn at the foot of any wise man: Get up! The art of living is simply getting up after you’ve been knocked down.
Senator John Stennis:The civil rights movement did more to free the white man that the black man. … It freed my soul.
The conservatives could sneer about “social engineering” if they wanted, but I thought that most people believed as I did that government should embody our best hopes and lend a hand to people who were struggling.
Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.
I wasn’t built to look the other way because the law demanded it. The law might be wrong.
I kept trying to tell people that just because I was young didn’t mean I could speak for all young people.
My own father had always said the measure of a man wasn’t how many times or how hard he got knocked down, but how fast he got back up.
My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.
Our future cannot depend on the government alone. The ultimate solutions lie in the attitudes and the actions of the American people.
My father used to have an expression. He’d say, ‘Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in your community.’
Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.
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.’
Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It’s self-defense. It’s patriotism.
Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.
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.
We’re going to be OK because of the American people. They have more grit, determination and courage than you can imagine.
I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.
You’ve got to reach a hand of friendship across the aisle and across philosophies in this country.
When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn’t be playing football.
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.
I know I’m not supposed to like muscle cars, but I like muscle cars.
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.
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.
For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.
We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.
We don’t want two-tier people in America. Those who are legal but not citizens, and citizens.
My dad always said, ‘Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.’