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.

— Joe Biden

My dad always said, 'Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.'

— Joe Biden

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.'

— Joe Biden

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. Furthermore, it's about your place in your community.'

— Joe Biden

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.

— Joe Biden

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. I made a pledge to myself that I would get up and emerge from this debacle better for having gone through it. I would live up to the expectation I had for myself. Furthermore, I would be the kind of man I wanted to be.

— Joe Biden

My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.

— Joe Biden

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.

— Joe Biden

Our future cannot depend on the government alone. The ultimate solutions lie in the attitudes and the actions of the American people.

— Joe Biden

Quoting from Neil Kinnock, running against Thatcher in 1987:Why am I the first Knock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glens the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Is it because all our predecessors were thick? Did they lack talent? Those people who could sing, and play, and recite, and write poetry, those people who could make wonderful things with their hands? Those people who could dream dreams, see visions? Why didn't they get it? Was it because they were weak? Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football? Weak? Those women who could survive eleven childbearing? Were they weak? Anybody really think that they didn't get what we have because they didn't have the talent, or the strength, or the endurance, or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform on which they could stand.

— Joe Biden