Bill Clinton Quotes

[Bill] Clinton was a pretty good president for a Republican. ~ Michael Moore

Every Southerner, I think, knows people like Bill Clinton, maybe not quite as smart and maybe not quite as liberal, but kind of a glad-handing, country-club yuppie Southerner. The problem is we don't have labels for middle-class Southerners. ~ John Shelton Reed

Her family had no such ties. She was able to forge her way into that world. And then to those people, the idea of going to Arkansas, if you're gonna stop and think about it, you don't do it. It wouldn't have made any sense. It's like going to Mississippi. Why would you go to Alabama? You wouldn't go. You wouldn't ... That would be throwing your life away! For some reason, Hillary Clinton wanted to latch on to this guy [Bill Clinton] - and for some reason, this guy wanted her to latch on to him. ~ Rush Limbaugh

When I think of the person that I thought was Bill Clinton, I think he had genuine remorse. When I think of the person that I now see is 100 percent politician, I think he's sorry he got caught. ~ Monica Lewinsky

With the birth of the Internet, Clinton's critics began chronicling his
scandals - which were entirely ignored by the reliable mainstream press -
and even came up with a colorful term to describe the untidy truth that an
inordinate number of those connected to Bill or his wife, Hilary Rodham
Clinton, had met unnatural deaths - the Clinton Body Count. ~ Donald Jeffries

Monday is President's Day and former President Bill Clinton is very excited. He is taking George Bush, Sr. to 'Hooters' ... George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have been spending more and more time together. Doesn't that seem like an unusual couple to you, honestly? Earlier today they went to go see that gay cowboy movie. ~ David Letterman

I love Bill Clinton. I think we should make him king. I'm talking the red robe, the turkey leg - everything. ~ Tim McGraw

Bill Clinton was for NAFTA. I heard him over in Tokyo he came out all said it was a great bill. Secretary Clinton was for it. She called it the gold standard when she was secretary of state. ~ Chris Matthews

Newt Gingrich wrote a novel, and he's a short story. Bill Clinton wrote a biography, and he's a novel. ~ James McBride

Bill Clinton is the guy that said, "The era of Big Government is over." Whether or not he meant it or not, he said it. ~ Rush Limbaugh

Feb. 9, 1999 Dear Friend, Without your previous support, Bill Clinton and I would not have won our victories for the American people in 1992 and 1996 ... And to win in 2000, I need you by my side. ~ Al Gore

Bill Clinton beat Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, for the White House in 1992 by focusing on 'the economy, stupid' - and Clinton's victory led, in time, to the longest sustained boom in American history. ~ Nigel Hamilton

I think our message,the Clinton campaign was very strong. Remember, this is their fourth campaign in South Carolina. Two for Bill Clinton. Two for Hillary Clinton. They had it well organized. They did well. And Icongratulate them. We came into that state at something like 7 or 8 percent in the polls. It was a tough road for us to hoe. But I want to thank all of our supporters, the members of the South Carolina state legislature. ~ Bernie Sanders

This gets back to the fundamental lesson of political survival that Bill Clinton taught me, which is if you make it about the American people's lives instead of your life, you're going to be okay. ~ Paul Begala

There are change elections and there are 'more of the same' elections, and there was a lot of economic anxiety in the 1992 election and (Bill Clinton) was able to drive a change narrative. after eight years of Barack Obama, it's very difficult to understand what kind of change it is that Hillary Clinton's candidacy could represent. ~ Steve Schmidt

What people have got to remember is that Sept. 11 happened in 2001 and not in 2003. It was planned under the presidency of Bill Clinton. ~ Jack Straw

We have been through a period where we see power leaching away from Washington. Who is more important in the world today: Bill Clinton or Bill Gates? I don't know. ~ Peter Jennings

I find that those who voted for George W. Bush are less offended by his religious references, and those who voted for Bill Clinton did not seem offended at all when people prayed at his inauguration. ~ Gwen Ifill

If there were only one cherry pie in the world, and Bill Clinton owned it, I might get a piece of it. If Bush or Reagan owned it, you'd have to kill them to get a piece of pie. That's my feeling about Bill. And Bill's a good bullshitter. America likes a good bullshitter. That's one of the reasons he was re-elected. Honesty has no place in politics. It would throw everything off. ~ George Carlin

Studies show that most people rate themselves well above average when it comes to ethical behavior. In fact, a newsmagazine poll asked people whom they thought would get to heaven. Bill Clinton was a toss-up, getting 52 percent backing from respondents. Former basketball star Michael Jordan did better, at 62 percent. Mother Teresa topped the two American men with 79 percent. But she was not the highest. That honor went to "yourself," with 87 percent. ~ Michael Wheeler

[Bill] Clinton was able to defeat conservatives, Republicans, at every turn. And so he was given wide latitude, leeway. He could do whatever he wanted and not be condemned for it. But young people today are not prone to rewarding that kind of behavior. ~ Rush Limbaugh

Certainly, in the spring of 2013 I hadn't fucked up as many gay lives as Bill Clinton had. ~ Bret Easton Ellis

Follow the trend lines, not the headlines. ~ Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton did midnight basketball. He is not looked at by this current generation of Democrats as anywhere near the hero he was back in the nineties. ~ Rush Limbaugh

Some people think that welfare reform should have hurt Bill Clinton with black voters. ~ P. J. O'Rourke

I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. ~ Barack Obama

Bill Clinton also benefited from a friendly press corps. With their baby boomer background, more liberal views, and Ivy League lawyer credentials, the Clintons fit the mold of many of the baby boomer reporters. In time, of course, the press would turn on Clinton. In the 1992 campaign, however, it seemed to me that some news outlets allowed their zeal for change to undermine their high standards of journalistic objectivity. (The pattern would later repeat with another exciting candidate promising change, Barack Obama.) ~ George W. Bush

Bill Clinton was impeached primarily for criminal conduct: lying under oath and misleading a federal grand jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Nixon would have been impeached for a wide array of criminal acts, as well as abuses of power. ~ Jonathan Turley

No one in the modern history of this country, no president, has done more to move toward a balanced budget than has President Bill Clinton. ~ Mario Cuomo

I've never been so star struck in my life as when I met President Obama and Bill Clinton ... and at the same time, no less! I'm not one to be at a loss for words, and that was a moment when I really was speechless. It was a big, big night. ~ Megan Hilty

The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed unanimously in the House, won 97 votes in the Senate, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Twenty states have passed their own versions of this law, and 11 additional ones have religious-liberty protections that state courts have interpreted to provide a similar level of protection. ~ Edwin Meese

We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps, but we have not done so; instead, we have drifted. And that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence. ~ Bill Clinton

The entire island of Martha's Vineyard has gone Obama crazy. There's even a cocktail that they've named after Barack Obama. It's called the Obamarita. Not to be confused with a cocktail inspired by John McCain, the Cosmopoligrip. And then there was one a couple of years ago inspired by George W. Bush, the Mojidiot. Of course, there was the Bill Clinton Screwdriver. ~ David Letterman

Bill Clinton has been a true leader of the western world. He has been a friend and a counsel to me and other leaders right around the world. ~ Tony Blair

One of the best things that can happen to any cause, to any people, is to have Bill Clinton as its advocate. That is how needy and neglected causes have become global initiatives. ~ Mitt Romney

In an age when stagecraft, gauzy themes, and sound-bites have too often been substituted for leadership, Bill Clinton as a candidate made it essential to campaigning to take the specifics of governance seriously. Practical solutions were 'in;' ideology was 'out.' ~ Sylvia Mathews Burwell

In other words, our constitution was designed by people who were idealistic but not ideological. There's a big difference. You can have a philosophy that tends to be liberal or conservative but still be open to evidence, experience, and argument. That enables people with honest differences to find practical, principled compromise. On the other hand, fervent insistence on an ideology makes evidence, experience, and arguments irrelevant: If you possess the absolute truth, those who disagree are by definition wrong, and evidence of success or failure is irrelevant. There is nothing to learn from the experience of other countries. Respectful arguments are a waste of time. Compromise is weakness. And if your policies fail, you don't abandon them; instead, you double down, asserting that they would have worked if only they had been carried to their logical extreme. ~ Bill Clinton

Isn't it odd that the guy was politically correct in one particularly weird way. Bill Clinton never lit a cigar. ~ Chris Matthews

The Clintons' geographic meandering is the stuff of political legend. Despite both Clintons being high-flyers in Arkansas, Bill Clinton failed to win the state in both of his presidential election wins in 1992 and 1996. Mrs. Clinton, not being born in, studied in, or lived in New York, was elected U.S. Senator from that state twice. ~ Donald Michaels

Wimbledon attracted Bill Clinton to the gallery at Centre Court Tuesday at the All England Club. NBC cameras showed his head turning back and forth with each volley. Even at a tennis match, it looks like he's denying everything. ~ Argus Hamilton

A troubled economy is always the sitting president's fault. It was when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, when Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush, and when Barack Obama defeated John McCain by running against George W. Bush. ~ Mark McKinnon

I love Carly Fiorina's fire; she's feisty as heck. She really seems to fearlessly take the fight right to the doorstep of the Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton Foundation. ~ Nicolle Wallace

I cannot conjure up an ounce of respect for Bill Clinton when it comes to the military. Every time I see him salute a Marine, it infuriates me. I don't think Bill Clinton cares one iota about what happens in a military unit. ~ Jim Webb

Certainly on a political and a legislative level, Bill Clinton was effective, but the example that he ultimately left, I think for posterity, tragically, is going to begin with that single paragraph lead with the White House intern. ~ Joe Eszterhas

People used to ask me: 'Well, was it the power that attracted you to Bill Clinton?' And I said, well, how much power do you think the attorney general of Arkansas has? Of course not. It wasn't that for me. I just a thought he was wonderful in general. ~ Gennifer Flowers

Nuclear arms is pretty scary because that could end the world. I'm more interested in that stuff than I am Bill Clinton. I mean, I think Bill Clinton is a good president. ~ Stephen Dorff

Richard Nixon was a criminally insane Monster - Bill Clinton is a black-hearted Swine of a friend. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Bill Clinton says the middle-class folks in Topeka who contribute to The 700 Club or Focus on the Family are radicals whose beliefs pose a mortal danger to this nation! ~ Don Feder

It's just like we do over here in America, right? It's amazing that we have presidents over here do the same thing, right? It's amazing that Bill Clinton could do one thing and have sex with his secretary and really get away with it and still be powerful. ~ Dennis Rodman

If you want to live like a Republican, vote like a Democrat. ~ Bill Clinton

When Bill Clinton was in town, he sent over a balanced budget. ~ Chaka Fattah

We cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs. ~ Bill Clinton

We can stretch our personalities, but only up to a point. Our inborn temperaments influence us, regardless of the lives we lead. A sizable part of who we are is ordained by our genes, by our brains, by our nervous systems. And yet the elasticity that Schwartz found in some of the high-reactive teens also suggests the converse: we have free will and can use it to shape our personalities.
These seem like contradictory principles, but they are not. Free will can take us far, suggests Dr. Schwartz's research, but it cannot carry us infinitely beyond our genetic limits. Bill Gates is never going to be Bill Clinton, no matter how he polishes his social skills, and Bill Clinton can never be Bill Gates, no matter how much time he spends alone with a computer.
We might call this the "rubber band theory" of personality. We are like rubber bands at rest. We are elastic and can stretch ourselves, but only so much. ~ Susan Cain

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~ Bill Clinton

It is?classic Bill Clinton, sincere and deceptive at the same time, requiring a careful reading between the lines. ~ David Maraniss

Bill Clinton left office with a more than 60% approval rating. ~ Nancy Gibbs

Hillary Clinton was saying Bill Clinton has tendencies toward being sexist. ~ Donald Trump

No matter how much evidence we uncover about this case or any others involving Mr. Clinton, millions of Americans simply will not care - they will excuse the corruption because they like Bill Clinton. ~ Bill O'Reilly

She [Hillary Clinton] knew that's who he[Bill clinton] was before they got married. It would have been hypocritical for her to insist on monogamy. ~ Rush Limbaugh

I think Gore does have to worry. He is tied to Bill Clinton. We know that there were telephone calls that he made from his office. We know that there were visits to the Buddhist temple. ~ Barbara Olson

I have been assaulted by cleverness on all fronts. ~ Bill Clinton

Hillary Clinton has reportedly accepted Barack Obama's offer to become secretary of state. That's what they're saying in the New York Times. Yeah, according to Bill Clinton, this is the first time in 20 years that Hillary has said 'yes.' ~ Conan O'Brien

At a time when the public is sour on politicians, have no use for them, Bill Clinton has risen to a different level. Bill Clinton is endlessly interesting. ~ Mark Shields

Yes, Bill Clinton is a big flirt. ~ Dee Dee Myers

We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more. ~ Bill Clinton

Clinton's fakery was so deft and deeply ingrained that it was impossible to tell where it ended and the real Bill Clinton began. This constituted a kind of political genius. ~ Rich Lowry

It was Bill Clinton who once pithily captured the contrast between the two parties when it came to selecting a presidential standard-bearer: Democrats want to fall in love; Republicans just fall in line. ~ Mark Halperin

As the leader of the international Human Genome Project, which had labored mightily over more than a decade to reveal this DNA sequence, I stood beside President Bill Clinton in the East Room of the White House...

Clinton's speech began by comparing this human sequence map to the map that Meriwether Lewis had unfolded in front of President Thomas Jefferson in that very room nearly two hundred years earlier.

Clinton said, "Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind." But the part of his speech that most attracted public attention jumped from the scientific perspective to the spiritual. "Today," he said, "we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, and the wonder of God's most divine and sacred gift."

Was I, a rigorously trained scientist, taken aback at such a blatantly religious reference by the leader of the free world at a moment such as this? Was I tempted to scowl or look at the floor in embarrassment? No, not at all. In fact I had worked closely with the president's speechwriter in the frantic days just prior to this announcement, and had strongly endorsed the inclusion of this paragraph.

When it came time for me to add a few words of my own, I echoed this sentiment: "It's a happy day for the world. It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring, to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruct ~ Francis S. Collins

I may become weak and start listening to what my body has to say more than my brain. So I elect you the responsible one."

"I've been crazy about you since we met. You've elected Bill Clinton president of the chastity club. ~ Robin Alexander

In the Bill Clinton years, the foreign leader who visited the White House most often was Yasser Arafat - 13 times. ~ Elliott Abrams

I don't know Bill Clinton as someone who needs to literally sexually harass a woman. I'm sure that he could have found many willing participants. ~ Gennifer Flowers

Did Bill Clinton actually think that he could get blow jobs from a Jewish woman and there would be no consequences? ~ Larry David

A lot of people over time have had this kind of pattern in their relationship with Bill Clinton. You first meet him and you're overwhelmed by his talent. He's so energetic and articulate and full of ideas and he calls himself a congenital optimist and that optimism is contagious. ~ Dee Dee Myers

I learned a lot from the stories my uncle, aunts and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can't be judged by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgements can make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best, and sometimes the only response to pain.

Perhaps most important, I learned that everyone has a story – of dreams and nightmares, hope and heartache, love and loss, courage and fear, sacrifice and selfishness. All my life I've been interested in other people's stories. I wanted to know them, understand them, feel them. When I grew up into politics, I always felt the main point of my work was to people a chance to have better stories. - Page 15, Paragraph 5, 'My Life' by Bill Clinton. –Hard cover version- ~ Bill Clinton

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Clinton cost John Kerry more votes than he gained for him whenever they appeared together. Imagine being part of a crowd enraptured by the presence of Bill Clinton, and then having to listen to a speech by John Kerry! ~ Pat Sajak

You are carrying the future of America in your heart and your mind. So live your dreams and remember, whatever you choose to do with your life, you must also be a citizen of your country, your n ation, and our interdependent world. Because while our differences make life more fascinating, our common humanity matters more. ~ Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton is the greatest president of the 20th century because I played touch football with him. ~ Al Franken

The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it. Between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past. Between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. ~ Bill Clinton

If one candidate is appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you'd better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope! ~ Bill Clinton

Al Gore didn't need to distance himself from Bill Clinton when he ran for president in 2000 because, when he ran, the country was in very good shape: strong economically and not at war. He did it anyway, and it was, in many people's estimate, mine included, one of the reasons he lost. ~ Susan Estrich

When Bill Clinton chose Al Gore in 1992 - from the same generational, ideological, and geographical background as his - it underscored his campaign's central argument that this was a clash between the past and the future, that 'Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow' was indeed the campaign's anthem. ~ Jeff Greenfield

Bill Clinton told me that when he was 14, he shook John Kennedy's hand, and that inspired him to be president. ~ John Catsimatidis

Prop 87 out here in California is about lessening our dependence on oil by using alternative fuels, and Bill Clinton comes on at the end of the ad and says, "If Brazil can do it, America can, too!" Since when did America have to buck itself up by saying we could catch up to Brazil? We invented the airplane and the lightbulb, they invented the bikini wax, and now they're ahead? ~ Bill Maher

Like many Americans, I've always been intrigued by Bill Clinton. I obviously didn't always agree with him - enjoyed running against his legacy in 2000, when Al Gore was his designated successor, but I don't have anything negative I would say about Bill Clinton. ~ Dick Cheney

We pursued the wrong policies. George Bush is not on the ballot. Bill Clinton is not on the ballot. Mitt Romney is on the ballot, and Barack Obama is on the ballot. And Mitt Romney is proposing tax reform, regulatory reform, a wise budget strategy and trade. The president has proposed tax increases. ~ Glenn Hubbard

For eight years Republicans worked around the clock to delegitimize Bill Clinton. For the next eight years, Democrats tried to delegitimize Bush. Now Barack Obama is enduring the rage of his conservative opposition. ~ Joe Scarborough

Think about one of the most powerful influences on a young child's life - the absence of a father figure. Look back on recent presidents, and you'll find an absent, or weak, or failed father in the lives of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. ~ Jeff Greenfield

I'd love to interview Bill Clinton. I know that might be a little boring, but he's so interesting and such an amazing guy. All he's done after his presidency ... he hasn't just sat around, he's been so active in so many charitable causes. ~ Damien Fahey

On Bill Clinton: If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied. Besides, no one but a fool or a Republican ever took him for a liberal. ~ Molly Ivins

As you may have heard, former President Bill Clinton says he's coming here to California to help Governor Gray Davis in his recall election campaign. Which is ironic, isn't it? When Clinton was president, he couldn't recall anything. ~ Jay Leno

Bill Clinton sitting on Air Force One getting his hair cut while people around the country cooled their heels and waited for him, became a metaphor for a populist president who had gotten drunk with the perks of his own power and was sort of, you know, not sensitive to what people wanted. ~ Dee Dee Myers

Our job is to live as well and as long as we can, and to help others to do the same. What happens after that and how we are viewed by others is beyond our control. ~ Bill Clinton

Has Bill Clinton inspired idealism in the young, as he himself was inspired by John F. Kennedy? Or has he actually reduced their idealism? Surely part of the answer lies in Clinton's personal moral lapse with Monica Lewinsky. But more important was his sin of omission - his failure to embrace a moral cause beyond popularity. ~ Arlie Russell Hochschild

President Bush and Bill Clinton both agree that cloning is morally wrong. Clinton said that he thinks humans should be made the old-fashioned way - liquored up in a cheap hotel room. ~ Jay Leno

Bill Clinton may in fact be moving back into the White House. And coincidentally I'm thinking about moving back into my mother's house. ~ David Letterman

That Bill Clinton. He probably doesn't know how to log on to the Internet. ~ Rush Limbaugh

Who does Bill Clinton think got off the boat and stepped on Plymouth Rock? Peace Corps volunteers? ~ P. J. O'Rourke

Along with former President Bill Clinton, we have Sam Nunn to thank for the sorry debacle of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' ~ David Mixner

For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton ... It's crazy. It's mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians, by America in general. ~ Jay-Z

Bill Clinton, who, to his credit, has established a clear and consistent foreign policy, which is as follows: Whenever the president of the United States gets anywhere near any foreign head of state, living or dead, he gives that leader a big old hug. This has proven to be an effective way to get foreign leaders to do what we want: Many heads of state are willing to sign any random document that President Clinton thrusts in front of them, without reading it, just so he will stop embracing them. ~ Dave Barry