Top 500 William J. Clinton Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 6 of 10

251. “Politics is not religion and we should govern on the basis of evidence, not theology.”

— William J. Clinton

252. “I’ve gained first hand knowledge of the challenges faced by people with disabilities. It’s made me understand that those of us who have full use of our physical faculties owe an enormous amount of respect and sensitivity to people who don’t.”

— William J. Clinton

253. “We have no intention of abandoning the American people to unproven theories and extreme positions. We’re the people party and we’re going to stick up for the people.”

— William J. Clinton

254. “Some day we hope to liberate every man on earth from the tendency as old as human history to identify our strength and manhood with the ability to control the lives, limit the chances, and doom the dreams of women and girls.”

— William J. Clinton

255. “Simply put, unsustainable debt is helping to keep too many poor countries and poor people in poverty.”

— William J. Clinton

256. “I regret to say that my hand did, in fact, have an improper relationship with Chelsea Clinton. The incident represents a profound lapse of judgment for which my hand takes sole responsibility.”

— William J. Clinton

257. “People like change in general, but not in particular.”

— William J. Clinton

258. “We will lower the tax burden on middle class Americans by asking the very wealthy to pay their fair share. Middle class taxpayers will have a choice between a children’s tax credit or a significant reduction in their income tax rate.”

— William J. Clinton

259. “We need not just a new generation of leadership but a new gender of leadership.”

— William J. Clinton

260. “You don’t have to be an elected official to be a public servant.”

— William J. Clinton

261. “The most ethical administration in the history of the Republic.”

— William J. Clinton

262. “When I leave the office on January 20th, I will leave even more idealistic than I was the day I took the oath of office.”

— William J. Clinton

263. “These dilemmas present perhaps the most enduring conundrum of human history: can people derive their identity primarily by positive association or does life’s meaning also require negative comparison to others?”

— William J. Clinton

264. “Health care’s complicated, can be misrepresented, it’s personal, it can spark fear, it’s expensive, and the people who have got the money want to keep it.”

— William J. Clinton

265. “You know what higher interest rates mean. To you it means a higher mortgage payment, a higher car payment, a higher credit card payment. To our economy it means businesspeople will not borrow as much money, invest as much money, create as many new jobs, create as much wealth, raise as many raises.”

— William J. Clinton

266. “They are cutting medicare.”

— William J. Clinton

267. “I did a lot of work on energy efficiency at the White House. By the time I left we had taken the equivalent of six hundred cars a year off the road in reduced greenhouse gas emissions just in the White House complex.”

— William J. Clinton

268. “We want to live forever, and we’re getting there.”

— William J. Clinton

269. “Today’s possibilities are not tomorrows guarantees.”

— William J. Clinton

270. “The country is groaning and moaning and screaming for change.”

— William J. Clinton

271. “There are times when only America can make the difference between war and peace, between freedom and repression, between life and death. We cannot save all the world’s children, but we can save many of them.”

— William J. Clinton

272. “We should stay on the right track to the 21st century. Opportunity alone is not enough. I want to build an America in the 21st century in which all Americans take personal responsibility for themselves, their families, their communities and their country.”

— William J. Clinton

273. “Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents.”

— William J. Clinton

274. “Terrorists are as big a threat to our future, perhaps bigger, than organized crime.”

— William J. Clinton

275. “Americans – not just starting thirty years ago but going back to the beginning, when we were rebelling against King George – we’ve always been of two minds about the government, which is why the framers wrote the Constitution the way they did.”

— William J. Clinton

276. “It is now conceivable that our children’s children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars.”

— William J. Clinton

277. “Even as people take pride in their national independence, we know we are becoming more and more interdependent.”

— William J. Clinton

278. “By the time you become the leader of a country, someone else makes all the decisions.”

— William J. Clinton

279. “The most important question of the 21st century is not what or how much, it is ‘How?’ How do you propose to turn your good ideas into positive changes in other people’s lives? You must be the ‘how generation.’”

— William J. Clinton

280. “I believe that a worthwhile life is defined by a kind of spiritual journey and a sense of obligation.”

— William J. Clinton

281. “Now, people ask me all the time how we got four surplus budgets in a row. What new ideas did we bring to Washington? I always give a one-word answer: Arithmetic.”

— William J. Clinton

282. “Since I don’t have access to the White House pastry chef anymore, it’s done wonders for my figure.”

— William J. Clinton

283. “The problem with any ideology is that it gives you the answer before you examine the evidence.”

— William J. Clinton

284. “I do think that the role of the Internet, and the way it’s bringing everything into the home, has made a parent’s job much more difficult. And it’s harder to know what to do and how to do it. It’s much, much harder.”

— William J. Clinton

285. “I am fascinated by this partnership between Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. It’s magic and I love it.”

— William J. Clinton

286. “We are moving people from welfare to work. On welfare, we launch a quiet revolution.”

— William J. Clinton

287. “One of the things that all kids are taught by their parents is this old “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.””

— William J. Clinton

288. “We should make it a crime even to attempt to pollute. Our children should grow up next to parks, not poison.”

— William J. Clinton

289. “If President Reagan could be an actor and become president, maybe I could become an actor. I’ve got a good pension. I can work for cheap.”

— William J. Clinton

290. “Let us never forget the greatest untapped market for American enterprise is right here in America, in the inner cities, in the rural areas.”

— William J. Clinton

291. “Palestinians are a hard-working and an incredible community. They have done remarkably well outside their country. I have never met a poor Palestinian in the United States; every Palestinian I know is a college professor or a doctor.”

— William J. Clinton

292. “I’m just trying to suppress my natural impulses and get back to work.”

— William J. Clinton

293. “I want to make it very clear that this middle-class tax cut, in my view, is central to any attempt we’re going to make to have a short-term economic strategy and a long-term fairness strategy, which is part of getting this country going again.”

— William J. Clinton

294. “When I started out in public life there used to be a saying we’d hear from time to time, that every man who runs for public office will claim that he was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands. Well, my mother knew better. And she made sure I did too.”

— William J. Clinton

295. “Citizenship in the 21st century requires more than paying your taxes and voting and occasionally running for office. That even if you’re never in political office, you have political responsibilities. You can make your society stronger and better.”

— William J. Clinton

296. “My only enemy is right-wing religious fundamentalism.”

— William J. Clinton

297. “If you believe in the values of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, if you’re willing to work hard and play by the rules, you are part of our family. And we’re proud to be with you.”

— William J. Clinton

298. “The simple fact is that we must not-and we will not-surrender our borders to those who wish to exploit our history of compassion and justice.”

— William J. Clinton

299. “It’s heartbreaking to see so many people trapped in a web of enforced idleness, deep debt, and gnawing self-doubt.”

— William J. Clinton

300. “Presidents are not permitted to have personal feelings.”

— William J. Clinton