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Bill ClintonFamous Bill Clinton Quotes
2000s
Variant: The world has always been more impressed by the power of our [America's] example than by the example of our power.
Context: Former U. S. president Bill Clinton has urged newspaper editors to focus more attention on the depletion of the world's oil reserves. In a June 17 speech to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said a "significant number of petroleum geologists" have warned that the world could be nearing the peak in oil production. Clinton suggested that at current consumption rates (now more than 30 billion barrels per year, according to the International Energy Agency), the world could be out of "recoverable oil" in 35 to 50 years, elevating the risk of "And then finally, and I think most important of all, more important than the deficit, more important then healthcare, more important than anything, is we have got to do something about our energy strategy because if we permit the climate to continue to warm at an unsustainable rate, and if we keep on doing what we're doing 'til we're out of oil and we haven't made the transition, then it's inconceivable to me that our children and grandchildren will be able to maintain the American way of life and that the world won't be much fuller of resource-based wars of all kinds.”
Bill Clinton Quotes about people
“[Iraq is] not Vietnam, we have a government that has a support of the majority of the people.”
Late Show with David Letterman, June 16, 2005
2000s
March 20, 2008 http://www.townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2008/03/22/obama_adviser_faults_bill_clinton_speech
2000s
“I have met all the most gifted people in our generation and you're the best.”
To Hillary Rodham Clinton when they both attended Yale University, repeated in a 2007 campaign speech. http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9904609
2000s
My Life (2004), page 15
2000s
William J. Clinton: "Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in New York," July 16, 1992. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25958
1990s
Bill Clinton: Trending quotes
Television interview on MTV's Enough is Enough (19 April 1994) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=49995
1990s
Context: When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly. That is, when we set up this country, abuse of people by Government was a big problem. So if you read the Constitution, it's rooted in the desire to limit the ability of — Government's ability to mess with you, because that was a huge problem. It can still be a huge problem. But it assumed that people would basically be raised in coherent families, in coherent communities, and they would work for the common good, as well as for the individual welfare.
“I end tonight where it all began for me: I still believe in a place called Hope.”
"A Place Called Hope" (July 16, 1992)
1990s, A Place Called Hope (16 July 1992)
Bill Clinton Quotes
“Everytime you cut off somebody else's opportunity you shrink your own horizon”
Bill Clinton on why he helps other people. http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/z4m9xu/colbert-galactic-initiative---bill-clinton-pt--1, August 2013
2010s
Context: I want to leave my daughter, and my grandchildren I hope to have and all these young people, a better world. And I think the reason you should do things for other people at bottom is selfish. There is no real difference between selfish and selfless if you understand how the world works. We all tied together. [... ] Everytime you cut off somebody else's opportunity you shrink your own horizon.
"A Place Called Hope" (July 16, 1992)
1990s, A Place Called Hope (16 July 1992)
Context: 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.
“We need each other. All of us, we need each other. We don't have a person to waste.”
"A Place Called Hope" (July 16, 1992)
1990s, A Place Called Hope (16 July 1992)
Context: 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.
“There is no real difference between selfish and selfless”
Bill Clinton on why he helps other people. http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/z4m9xu/colbert-galactic-initiative---bill-clinton-pt--1, August 2013
2010s
Context: I want to leave my daughter, and my grandchildren I hope to have and all these young people, a better world. And I think the reason you should do things for other people at bottom is selfish. There is no real difference between selfish and selfless if you understand how the world works. We all tied together. [... ] Everytime you cut off somebody else's opportunity you shrink your own horizon.
Second inaugural address (January 20, 1997)
1990s
Context: Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.
State of the Union address http://millercenter.org/president/clinton/speeches/speech-3440 (24 January 1995)
1990s
Context: All Americans, not only in the States most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the workplace as recommended by the commission headed by former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.
Writing on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing
2010s
Context: p>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.</p
At a Labour Party conference in the UK, quoted in The Independent. "Clinton urges caution over Iraq as Bush is granted war powers" (3 October 2002) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/clinton-urges-caution-over-iraq-as-bush-is-granted-war-powers-607775.html
2000s
Context: A preemptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future. And because … I've done this. I've ordered these kinds of actions — I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die.
“It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is.”
Grand jury testimony (August 17, 1998), answering questions about his attorney's description of an affidavit by Monica Lewinsky
1990s
Context: It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement. … Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true.
At a Labour Party conference in the UK, quoted in The Independent. "Clinton urges caution over Iraq as Bush is granted war powers" (3 October 2002) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/clinton-urges-caution-over-iraq-as-bush-is-granted-war-powers-607775.html
2000s
Context: A preemptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future. And because … I've done this. I've ordered these kinds of actions — I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die.
Televised address on August 17, 1998 CNN transcript http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/17/speech/transcript.html
1990s
2012-09-05 Democratic National Convention Speech in Charlotte, North Carolina http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/05/transcript-bill-clinton-speech-at-dnc/
2010s
“It’s a great thing about not being office—you can just say whatever you want.”
Bill Clinton on Libya, Peter King, and more http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/11/bill-clinton-on-libya-peter-king-and-more.html, March 2011.
2010s
First inaugural address (January 20, 1993), Washington, D.C.
1990s
At a benefit dinner hosted by the Canadian Jewish Congress in Toronto, Ontario, 2002 CNN Transcript http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/02/cf.00.html
2000s
Statement (May 21, 2004)
2000s
Interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/21/sitroom.02.html , September 21, 2010.
2010s
As quoted by President Jimmy Carter during his Malaise Speech, delivered on 15 July 1979 http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/whistlestop/2015/07/when_ted_kennedy_challenged_incumbent_president_jimmy_carter_for_the_democratic.html.
1970s
Remarks to the 54th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (September 21, 1999)
1990s
2010s, (July 26, 2016)
2010s, (July 26, 2016)
"A Place Called Hope," speech to the 1992 Democratic National Convention accepting the Democratic nomination for President (July 16, 1992)
1990s, A Place Called Hope (16 July 1992)
Clinton denying that he had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDAXGXGiEw.
Remarks on the After-School Child Care Initiative, Roosevelt Room, White House Remarks on the After-School Child Care Initiative http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=56257 (January 26, 1998)
1990s
On the emphasis in the news media on the Starr investigation and the Lewinsky affair (June 22, 2004) Panorama interview http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3829799.stm
2000s
Applause.
Response to hecklers, courtyard of Philadelphia City Hall (May 28, 1993). Remarks at City Hall in Philadelphia http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46631, May 28, 1993.
1990s
March 26, 2008 http://web.archive.org/web/20090224042117/http://www.salon.com/5things/2008/03/26/bill_clinton_saddle_
2000s
“What are the needs of the world? What can I do that won't be done if I don't do it?”
ABC Primetime Live interview during opening of his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., November 2004
2000s
On August 28, 1998 at Union Chapel in Oak Bluff, Massachusetts, speaking on the 35th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Published in the August 29, 1998 edition of <i>The New York Times</i>. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/29/us/in-clinton-s-remarks-a-focus-on-interdependence-and-forgiveness.html?pagewanted=5
1990s
Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, September 21, 2010. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/21/bill_clinton_russian_immigrants_and_settlers_obstacles_to_mideast_peace
2010s
“Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.”
In support of John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, Boston, MA, July 26, 2004
2000s
Interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show
2000s
State of the Union Address http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/html/19990119-2656.html (January 19, 1999)
1990s
" Bill Clinton Explains Why He Became a Vegan http://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-08-2013/bill-clinton-vegan.html" by Joe Conason, AARP The Magazine, August/September 2013.
2010s
To Webster Hubbell during his interview for Attorney General, 1992, according to Hubbell's book Friends in High Places (1997) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_n2_v22/ai_20562397/
Attributed
State of the Union Address (January 19, 1999)
1990s
“I felt like a pickle stepping into history.”
During the unveiling of his official portrait in the East Room of the White House http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1464584/Bill-Clinton-back-in-big-picture-for-unveiling-of-his-portrait.html (June 14, 2004)
2000s
“There's never a perfect bipartisan bill in the eyes of a partisan.”
The Economist, December 18, 2010, p. 74
2010s
Statement during 1992 US presidential campaign http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/Welfare/Accomp.html http://www.cnn.com/US/9608/22/welfare/ http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/Publications/html/briefs/iii-8.html http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/New/html/19990803.html
1990s
“A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”
Remarks allegedly made about Barack Obama to Ted Kennedy in 2008, as quoted in Game Change : Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime (2010) in John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
Attributed
Television interview (March 1992), quoted in the New York Times (31 March 1992) realone audio file http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ididntinhale.rm
1990s
In an interview aired 20 years after assassination of Yitzhak Rabin http://www.timesofisrael.com/clinton-i-really-loved-rabin-and-he-would-have-made-peace/ (27 October 2015).
2010s
Made that statement during a conference in Ottawa, Canada, in March 2006. He concluded that a trend of international goodwill has been developing since the 2004 tsunami and said, with a hint of optimism, that the world is now at “a time of unprecedented interdependence.”
Source: JW.org http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2007361?q=clinton&p=par
2000s