Top 300 Bernie Sanders Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Don’t underestimate me.”

— Bernie Sanders

2. “A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little.”

— Bernie Sanders

3. “For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare.”

— Bernie Sanders

4. “If the environment were a bank, it would have been saved by now.”

— Bernie Sanders

5. “The problems we face, did not come down from the heavens. They are made, they are made by bad human decisions, and good human decisions can change them.”

— Bernie Sanders

6. “It’s better to show up than to give up.”

— Bernie Sanders

7. “A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it.”

— Bernie Sanders

8. “You can’t become a billionaire stepping over children sleeping on the street.”

— Bernie Sanders

9. “If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”

— Bernie Sanders

10. “Brothers and sisters: Now is not the time for thinking small, now is not the time for the same-old, same-old establishment politics and stale inside-the-Beltway ideas.”

— Bernie Sanders

11. “Whether it is television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books or the Internet, a few giant conglomerates are determining what we see, hear and read.”

— Bernie Sanders

12. “The greed of the billionaire class has got to end and we are going to end it for them.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Quotes About Greed

13. “Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.”

— Bernie Sanders

14. “Let us wage a moral and political war against war itself, so that we can cut military spending and use that money for human needs.”

— Bernie Sanders

15. “The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process.”

— Bernie Sanders

16. “Message to the billionaire class: You can’t have it all!”

— Bernie Sanders

17. “Education should be a right, not a privilege. We need a revolution in the way that the United States funds higher education.”

— Bernie Sanders

18. “We can’t allow racism and xenophobia to gain traction.”

— Bernie Sanders

19. “An America where every person, no matter their race, their disability or their sexual orientation realizes the full promise of equality that is our birthright as Americans.”

— Bernie Sanders

20. “Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.”

— Bernie Sanders

21. “The Occupy Wall Street protests are shining a national spotlight on the most powerful, dangerous and secretive economic and political force in America.”

— Bernie Sanders

22. “We are the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people as a right and yet we end up spending much more than they do, so I do believe that we have to move toward a Medicare for all, single-payer system.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Country Quotes

23. “People all over this country are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that’s what I intend to do.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Country Quotes

24. “The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.”

— Bernie Sanders

25. “If we are a free country, we have the right to be free.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Country Quotes

26. “Social Security is a promise that we cannot and must not break.”

— Bernie Sanders

27. “Let us wage a moral and political war against the billionaires and corporate leaders, on Wall Street and elsewhere, whose policies and greed are destroying the middle class of America.”

— Bernie Sanders

28. “Humanity is at a crossroads. We can continue down the current path of greed, consumerism, oligarchy, poverty, war, racism, and environmental degradation. Or we can lead the world in moving in a very different direction.”

— Bernie Sanders

29. “Big business is willing to destroy the planet for short-term profits.”

— Bernie Sanders

30. “It means joining with allies to deploy renewable energy technologies – both at home and around the world – to confront the very real and present danger of potentially irreversible climate change.”

— Bernie Sanders

31. “I think my main concern is because I worry about demagoguery. It’s real. You see the people standing up there and applauding.”

— Bernie Sanders

32. “Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there.”

— Bernie Sanders

33. “I don’t believe government should take over, you know, the grocery store down the street or own the means of production.”

— Bernie Sanders

34. “Finally, let understand that when we stand together, we will always win. When men and women stand together for justice, we win. When black, white and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win.”

— Bernie Sanders

35. “The hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it.”

— Bernie Sanders

36. “It’s immoral and wrong that the top 1 percent of the USA owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. We should look at countries like Denmark and Sweden and Norway and look at what they’ve accomplished for their working people.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Country Quotes

37. “I think what the American people are saying is enough is enough. This country, this great country, belongs to all of us. It cannot continue to be controlled by a handful of billionaires who apparently want it all.”

— Bernie Sanders

Featured in: Country Quotes

38. “If the goal of health-care reform is to provide comprehensive, universal health care in a cost-effective way, the only honest approach is a single-payer approach.”

— Bernie Sanders

39. “We have got to change the political culture in America. We need a political revolution. That means we are working on politics not just three weeks before an election but 365 days a year.”

— Bernie Sanders

40. “We will do well when young people, when working-class people come out. We do not do well when the voter turnout is not large. We did not do as good a job as I had wanted to bring out a large turnout.”

— Bernie Sanders

41. “Black lives, of course, matter. I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights and for dignity, but if you don’t want me to be here, that’s OK. I don’t want to out-scream people.”

— Bernie Sanders

42. “Today, the top one-tenth of 1% owns nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90%. The economic game is rigged, and this level of inequality is unsustainable. We need an economy that works for all, not just the powerful.”

— Bernie Sanders

43. “Are we prepared to take on the enormous political power of the billionaire class or do we continue to slide into economic and political oligarchy?”

— Bernie Sanders

44. “It costs a hell of a lot more money to put somebody in jail than send them to the University of Virginia.”

— Bernie Sanders

45. “As a result of the digital age and the decline of first-class mail, there is no question that the Postal Service must change and develop a new business model.”

— Bernie Sanders

46. “Low-income people, racial or ethnic minorities, pregnant women, seniors, people with special needs, people in rural areas – they all have a much harder time accessing a dentist than other groups of Americans.”

— Bernie Sanders

47. “Here’s what income and wealth inequality is about. Last year, the top 25 hedge fund managers made more than 24 billion, enough to pay the salaries of 425,000 public school teachers. This level of inequality is neither moral or sustainable.”

— Bernie Sanders

48. “When you talk about heroines and heroes, at the top of the list has got to be the single moms of America.”

— Bernie Sanders

49. “We must fundamentally restructure our student loan program. It makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages.”

— Bernie Sanders

50. “Today, over half of American workers have less than $10,000 in savings and have no idea how they will be able to retire with any shred of dignity.”

— Bernie Sanders