Joe Biden: Trending quotes (page 3)

“Let me tell you one or two things about Islam.”

Joe Biden

2010s
Source: As quoted in "Notable & Quotable" https://web.archive.org/web/20150113053714/http://www.friesian.com/ISLAM.HTM#phobia (23 November 2014), The Wall Street Journal.

“No matter how well intended our country is, we cannot expect other nations to trust us as much as we trust ourselves.”

Joe Biden

Page 145
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Country

“For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community. For too long as a nation, we have been lulled by the anthem of self-interest. For a decade, led by Ronald Reagan, self-aggrandizement has been the full-throated cry of this society: 'I've got mine, so why don't you get yours' and 'What's in it for me?”

Joe Biden

Speech http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/10/us/biden-joins-campaign-for-the-presidency.html announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
1980s

Communication , Cry

“Given Iraq's strategic location, its large oil reserves, and the suffering of the Iraqi people, we cannot afford to replace a despot with chaos. It would be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq only to leave chaos in its wake.”

Joe Biden

Page 335
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

People , Suffering

“Alan Cranston understood power not as a reflection of status but as a tool with a purpose.”

Joe Biden

Meet the Press (December 31, 2000)
2000s

“I knew I had to be sure-footed about the issues I was talking about. When you're twenty-nine years old, who the hell is going to think you're credible? It wasn't enough to have ideas; I had to know my facts. I had to demonstrate command from the minute I started running. I understood that was the test I had to pass.”

Joe Biden

Page 63
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Idea , Hell , Thinking

“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

Speech http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/10/us/biden-joins-campaign-for-the-presidency.html announcing entry into 1988 presidential race, Wilmington, Delaware (June 10, 1987)
1980s

Indifference

“ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.
Let me tell you one or two things about Islam.”

Joe Biden

As quoted in "Notable & Quotable" https://web.archive.org/web/20150113053714/http://www.friesian.com/ISLAM.HTM#phobia (23 November 2014), The Wall Street Journal.
2010s

“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

Page 321
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Guy

“When these barbarians replicated with Steven what they did with Foley, who is from New Hampshire, they somehow think that it's going to lessen US resolve, frighten us, intimidate us. But if they think the American people will be intimidated, they don't know us very well. We came back after 9/11, we dusted ourselves off and we made sure that Osama Bin Ladin would never ever again threaten the American people. We came back Boston strong, blaming no one, but resolve to be certain that this didn't happen again. Today America may be still grieving from Jim Foley, a native from New Hampshire as I said he grew up in Rochester, but the American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand. As a nation, we are united. And when people harm Americans, we don't retreat, we don't forget, we take care of those grieving. And when that's finished, they should know [that] we follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice, because hell is where they will reside.”

Joe Biden

Joe Biden Speech Transcript: We Will Follow Them to the Gates of Hell http://www.crossmap.com/news/joe-biden-speech-transcript-we-will-follow-them-to-the-gates-of-hell-11970#ixzz3R6YDaKKw (September 3 2014)
2000s

People , Justice , Hell , Understanding

“There is a great deal of pressure, in the one particular area at least, to prostitute our ideas, if not our integrity.”

Joe Biden

Page 93
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Idea

“Ties between our two countries are literally, literally unbreakable.”

Joe Biden

addressing the 2010 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on relations between the United States of America and the State of Israel, 2010-11-07, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America
Israel Resumption of Building Settlements Could Derail Peace Talks, PBS Newshour, 2010-11-08, 2012-07-01 http://newshour-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2010/11/08/20101108_mideast1.mp3,
Israel Resumption of Building Settlements Could Derail Peace Talks, PBS Newshour, 2010-11-08, 2012-07-01 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec10/mideast1_11-08.html,
Biden reaffirms U.S. support for Israel in speech to Jewish group, CNN, 2010-11-07, 2012-07-01 http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-07/politics/louisiana.biden.israel_1_vice-president-joe-biden-peace-talks-israel, (Misquotation omits the second utterance of the word “literally”.)
2010s

Country

“Good morning everyone. This past week we've seen the best and the worst of humanity. The heinous terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, in Iraq and Nigeria. They showed us once again the depths of the terrorist's depravity. And at the same time we saw the world come together in solidarity. Parisians opening their doors to anyone trapped in the street, taxi drivers turning off their meters to get people home safety, people lining up to donate blood. These simple human acts are a powerful reminder that we cannot be broken and in the face of terror we stand as one. In the wake of these terrible events, I understand the anxiety that many Americans feel. I really do. I don't dismiss the fear of a terrorist bomb going off. There's nothing President Obama and I take more seriously though, than keeping the American people safe. In the past few weeks though, we've heard an awful lot of people suggest that the best way to keep America safe is to prevent any Syrian refugee from gaining asylum in the United States. So let's set the record straight how it works for a refugee to get asylum. Refugees face the most rigorous screening of anyone who comes to the United States. First they are finger printed, then they undergo a thorough background check, then they are interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security. And after that the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Defense and the Department of State, they all have to sign off on access. And to address the specific terrorism concerns we are talking about now, we've instituted another layer of checks just for Syrian refugees. There is no possibility of being overwhelmed by a flood of refugees landing on our doorstep tomorrow. Right now, refugees wait 18 to 24 months while the screening process is completed. And unlike in Europe, refugees don't set foot in the United States until they are thoroughly vetted. Let's also remember who the vast majority of these refugees are: women, children, orphans, survivors of torture, people desperately in need medical help. To turn them away and say there is no way you can ever get here would play right into the terrorists' hands. We know what ISIL - we know what they hope to accomplish. They flat-out told us. Earlier this year, the top ISIL leader al-Baghdadi revealed the true goal of their attacks. Here's what he said: "Compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zone themselves. Muslims in the West will quickly find themselves between one and two choices. Either apostatize or emigrate to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution." So it's clear. It's clear what ISIL wants. They want to manufacture a clash between civilizations. They want frightened people to think in terms of "us versus them."They want us to turn our backs on Muslims victimized by terrorism. But this gang of thugs peddling a warped ideology, they will never prevail. The world is united in our resolve to end their evil. And the only thing ISIL can do is spread terror in hopes that we will in turn, turn on ourselves. We will betray our ideals and take actions, actions motivated by fear that will drive more recruits into the arms of ISIL. That's how they win. We win by prioritizing our security as we've been doing. Refusing to compromise our fundamental American values: freedom, openness, tolerance. That's who we are. That's how we win. May God continue to bless the United States of America and God bless our troops.”

Joe Biden

Weekly presidential address http://www.c-span.org/video/?401096-1/weekly-presidential-address (21 November 2015).
2010s

Women , God , Children , People

“I learned later that the surgeon who put Dole back together after he was so badly injured in World War II was an Armenian whose family had deep memories of the genocidal campaign the Turks had waged against them.”

Joe Biden

Page 281
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

War , World , Family , Learning

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

Joe Biden

Biden Say What?, National Journal/C-SPAN, July 6, 2006, 2008-08-22 http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/07/biden_say_what.html,
2000s

“No President of the United States could represent the United States were he not committed to human rights. If you don't understand this, you can't deal with us. President Barack Obama would not be able to stay in power if he did not speak of it. So look at it as a political imperative. It doesn't make us better or worse. It's who we are. You make your decisions. We'll make ours.”

Joe Biden

To Jinping Xi (2011-2012), as quoted in "Born Red: How Xi Jinping, an unremarkable provincial administrator, became China’s most authoritarian leader since Mao." http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/06/born-red (6 April 2015), by Evan Osnos, The New Yorker.
2010s

Understanding , Decision

“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

Page xx
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Wisdom , People , Faith , Courage

“It required a lot less energy, intelligence, and competence to run against government than to try to make government work.”

Joe Biden

Page 134
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)

Intelligence

“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

Page 64
2000s, Promises to Keep (2008)