What defines a most memorable quote? Is it what the news plays on repeat for weeks on end? Is it the quote that the politicians themselves repeat at every speaking opportunity? Is it a line that defines an event? Maybe we can’t decide what the most memorable quotes are until long after a person is dead and all that’s left of their legacy are quotes and legislation.

For this list, we compiled some of the most memorable quotes as categorized by both Biden supporters and Biden opponents. These are gaffes, inspirational quotes, and other lines that continue to be used and repeated. Some might fall into distant memory, only to be replaced by more recent quotes, while others might stand the test of time. Nobody can tell, but here are 20 of Joe Biden’s most memorable quotes.

#1 No Interest in Being Mayor

“I never had an interest in being a mayor ’cause that’s a real job. You have to produce. That’s why I was able to be a senator for 36 years.”

• Said: March 29, 2012

What was probably meant as a self-deprecating joke is actually a damning indictment of politics (and politicians) in this country. A rare look into the mentality of politicians who enjoy elected office on the taxpayer’s dime while enriching themselves and furthering their own goals and interests.

#2 Ordinary Americans

“No law-abiding citizen in the United States of America has any fear that their Constitutional rights will be infringed in any way. None, zero.”

• Said: February 2013

Biden said this in the aftermath of the Sand Hook school shooting, in response to those who were panicking that the event would force the government to take away their guns. It was meant to reassure law-abiding gun owners that they had nothing to fear from gun reform. However, in light of recent events, this quote has aged like fine milk as we see the rights of women, children, the working class, and others get taken away by greedy businessmen and politicians. It is even more ironic that these rights are being taken away while Biden is president.

#3 Making Political Gains

“When you’re appealing to people’s fears and anxieties, you can make some gains.”

•  Said: October 25, 2016

Biden said this while describing the tactics employed by Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Leave it to a career politician to admit to one of the tricks of the trade. Appealing to our fears and deep-seated anxieties is something we all know that politicians do, yet we fall for it over and over again.

#4 Success in Life

“You know you’re a success when you look at your kids and realize they turned out better than you.”

• Said: December 14, 2011

Whatever you might think of Joe Biden, he is still a human being and a father. Seeing your children grow up happy and better than you is a joy that only parents can know. The true mark of success should be making the world a better place, especially through our children.

#5 Unrestrained Individualism

“For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community.”

• Said: June 9, 1987

Biden said this when announcing his candidacy for the 1988 presidential campaign. It was insightful and true at the time, and unfortunately remains even more true today during a time where we see laws meant to help the common people being repealed in the name of individual profiteering. In the same speech, Biden also said that Americans should be better than just working toward “the mere accumulation of material things.”

#6 Position on Abortion

“My position is that I am personally opposed to abortion, but I don’t think I have a right to impose my view on the rest of society. I’ve thought a lot about it, and my position probably doesn’t please anyone. I think the government should stay out completely. I will not vote to overturn the Court’s decision. I will not vote to curtail a woman’s right to choose abortion. But I will also not vote to use federal funds to fund abortion.”

• Said: In his 2007 book “Promises to Keep”

This is definitely a quote that lost him allies on all sides of the political spectrum. It is a typical political tactic of making the act of not doing something seem like a valiant effort, instead of actually fighting for something you know the people want and the right thing to do. 

#7 The Right to Tell

“I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people, women, that they can’t control their bodies.”

• Said: 2012 Vice Presidential Debate

Biden has definitely made progress on being more supportive of women’s rights, but at the time of this quote, Biden was still using his support of the Hyde Amendment (a law that prevented Medicaid and Medicare funds from funding abortion) as a selling point to more moderate Democrats.

#8 Already American Citizens

“You know, the eleven million people living in the shadows, I believe, they’re already American citizens… These people are just waiting, waiting for a chance to contribute fully. And by that standard alone eleven million undocumented aliens are already Americans in my view.”

• Said: March 27, 2014

What really makes a person an American? Is it passing a test filled with random American history facts? Is it being born on a certain side of an imaginary border? Is it the language you speak? This was a surprisingly liberal statement by a traditionally more conservative Democrat and helped the fight for more extensive immigration reform.

#9 No Means No

“Look guys — all you guys in the audience — no matter what a girl does, no matter how she’s dressed, no matter how much she’s had to drink, it’s never, never, never, never, never OK to touch her without her consent. This doesn’t make you a man. It makes you a coward. A flat-out coward.”

• Said: April 2011

This was true before Biden said it and it remains true today. Unfortunately, we have to keep repeating this lesson for those who refuse to listen or believe it. The straightforward language and clear delivery have made this a line that will hopefully live forever.

#10 The Biggest Stimulus

“The single biggest stimulus to the economy are the unemployment benefits we’re paying. These people go out and they spend the money. They go out and they have to get by to everything from paying their mortgage or buying food or just getting by. It has a significant impact on economic growth and the continuation of economic growth.”

• Said: November 19, 2010

What helps the economy most? It’s not bank bailouts, it’s not trickle-down economics, it’s not tax breaks for the wealthy or for corporations. It is unemployment for those who are out of work and other payments to those who actually participate in the economy.

#11 Organized Labor

“There is a middle class in America for only one reason: organized labor. If not for organized labor, where would you find a job where you had some sense that you had a shot of leaving behind something better than you inherited?”

• Said: March 14, 2007

Representatives from all sides of the political spectrum love to use the American middle class as a point of pride and appeal to them in every way possible to win elections. Biden was refreshingly straightforward in this quote, giving all the credit for our strong middle class where it’s due: organized labor.

#12 Right to Healthcare

“I believe health care is a basic right. If education – you’re entitled to an education, why wouldn’t you be entitled to adequate health care? Period.”

• Said: January 5, 2017

The only developed Western country in which healthcare isn’t a right continues to be the battleground between those who believe we have to earn the right to healthcare, and those who believe it should be a right. The madness won’t end anytime soon, but at least we have someone in charge who pays lip service to the morally correct option.

#13 Drug Prices are a Problem

“Drug prices are a problem. Access is a problem.”

• Said: January 5, 2017

There are many problems with the United States healthcare system, among them the inhumane prices being charged by pharmaceutical companies and the high barriers to accessing them. None of these problems can effectively change without ground-up reform. At least Biden acknowledges the problems when he sees them. Legislative reform will have to wait, though.

#14 We Are Entitled to Medical Care

“It’s a simple proposition to us: Everyone is entitled to adequate medical health care. If you call that a ‘redistribution of income’ — well, so be it. I don’t call it that. I call it just being fair — giving the middle-class taxpayers an even break that the wealthy have been getting.”

• Said: March, 2010

Biden said this during the time the American right-wing conservatives were up in arms over the Affordable Care Act. It was a response to the fear-mongering stoked by conservative talking heads about a possible redistribution of income. The fact is that no matter what you call universal healthcare, it doesn’t change the fact that it is a human right.

#15 President Bush Divided Americans

“After 9-11, the President had a historic opportunity to unite Americans and the world in common cause. Instead, by exploiting the politics of fear, instigating an optional war in Iraq before finishing a necessary war in Afghanistan and instituting policies on torture, detainees and domestic surveillance that fly in the face of our values and interests, President Bush divided Americans from each other and from the world.”

• Said: August 9, 2008

Of all the things that could be said about President Bush after 9-11, that he missed his opportunity is not one of them. It is an informal tradition for United States presidents to be respectful and cordial about their predecessors and their successors. In this instance, however, Biden was particularly clear about the actions, motivations, and results of President Bush’s reaction after the September 11 attacks.

#16 A Shot at a Decent Life

“Everyone working 40 hours a week should have a shot at a decent life.”

• Said: October 7, 2014

This quote remains as controversial today as the day he said it. For some reason, too many Americans believe that contributing fully to society does not entitle anyone to a home, healthcare, or happiness. Too many believe that we must work all day, every day, barely scraping by to just provide for our families. Until this fundamental, religious, conservative mindset is destroyed, we will continue to be a nation divided.

#17 The Ripple Effect

“Raising minimum wage doesn’t just benefit the workers behind me, it creates a proven ripple effect that increases wages all the way up the scale. […] Let’s get the facts straight, only 20 percent of people making the minimum wage are teenagers. The rest are hardworking adults, many of them with families, and I mean hardworking.”

• Said: June 25, 2013

What happens when you raise the minimum wage? Real-world examples show an increase in happiness and the standard of living, a decrease in sickness and depression, and much more. What doesn’t happen? Higher prices and unaffordable goods. Fear-mongering and greed are the only things that convince us to not compensate other human beings fairly for their work. There are no good reasons for keeping the minimum wage so low.

#18 The Easy Way Out

“The worst thing we can do as a nation is taking the easy way out. If you start opening up offshore drilling, then you are buying time and you are not addressing the fundamental problem with fossil fuels.”

• Said: June 22, 2008

Gasoline is an addiction, and it would be all too easy to simply continue using it, designing our lives and our cities around it, until there’s none left. It is more difficult to design a society that doesn’t depend on oil, and limits the exploitation of our natural resources. Too bad so many of previous generations and the voting population today continue to choose the easy way out.

#19 You Know The Thing

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men and women are created by the — Go — you know — you know the thing.”

• Said: March 2020

If Biden’s verbal stumblings define his presidency, this will surely be among the most famous of all his quotes — at least of the ones that are intelligible. Campaigning and political life are sure to be stressful, and we all suffer from forgetting what we’re saying in the middle of a sentence, but that doesn’t make this quote any less funny or less memorable.

#20 C’mon man

“C’mon man!”

• Said: Various, but made famous in October of 2020

We all have our unique verbal lines or things we repeat without realizing it. This particular Biden quirk made headlines during the presidential debates of 2020 when Biden repeated it in exasperation while debating against Donald Trump.

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