Bernie Sanders

CEOs of large corporations earn 400 times what their workers make. That is not what America is supposed to be about.

— Bernie Sanders

I come from a rural state. People drive 50, 100 miles to and from work every single day. That is true all over America.

— Bernie Sanders

I am sure that there are some single payer advocates who think the only thing worth fighting for is single payer.

— Bernie Sanders

You want to know the way to raise money? Put a transaction fee on Wall Street, so maybe we can curb some of the speculation and raise some money.

— Bernie Sanders

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

At a time when the Post Office is losing substantial revenue from the instantaneous flow of information by email and on the Internet, slowing mail service is a recipe for disaster.

— Bernie Sanders

As Vermont's senator and a member of the Budget Committee, I will not support a plan to reduce the deficit that does not call for shared sacrifice.

— Bernie Sanders

Citizens in a democracy need diverse sources of news and information.

— Bernie Sanders

Progressives know there is something very wrong when a nation divided politically has one major network operating as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party and 90 percent of talk radio is dominated by right-wing extremists.

— Bernie Sanders

In any democratic, civilized - even non-democratic nations, if you are a nation, it means to say that in our case, if there's a hurricane in Louisiana, the people of Vermont are there for them. If there's a tornado in the Midwest, we are there for them. If there's flooding in the East Coast, the people in California are there for us.

— Bernie Sanders

Our job is to do two things - to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Hillary Clinton. It is easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face if we are living under a Trump presidency.

— Bernie Sanders

To me, democratic socialism means democracy. It means creating a government that represents all of us, not just the wealthiest people in the country.

— Bernie Sanders

The deficit crisis is real and must be addressed. But it cannot be solved on the backs of the weak and vulnerable.

— Bernie Sanders

Ted Kennedy will go down in history as one of the giants of the U.S. Senate and one the most accomplished legislators in American history.

— Bernie Sanders

Look, if you have somebody who doesn't have health insurance, who doesn't have a doctor or dentist, and in order to deal with their cold or flu or dental problem, they go to an emergency room - in general, that visit will cost ten times more than walking into a community health center.

— Bernie Sanders

I thought the Bush economic policy was a disaster. We lost 500,000 private sector jobs during his tenure.

— Bernie Sanders

We have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

— Bernie Sanders

If you want to know if your food contains gluten, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, trans-fats or MSG, you simply read the ingredients listed on the label.

— Bernie Sanders

Vermonters often ask me whether I am pessimistic about the future of our country. My honest answer is that I am not.

— Bernie Sanders

Here is what the practical impact of Citizens United means. What Citizens United means is that corporations call hundreds of millions of dollars into television ads, radio ads, and other forms of advertising to defeat those candidates who stand up and take them on.

— Bernie Sanders

You know, I think many people have the mistaken impression that Congress regulates Wall Street. In truth that's not the case. The real truth is that Wall Street regulates the Congress.

— Bernie Sanders

Private insurance companies in America are reaping huge profits.

— Bernie Sanders

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

Today the biggest problem in caring for those with AIDS is no longer mainly a medical or scientific problem. The crisis is access to affordable drugs.

— Bernie Sanders

The revolution comes when two strangers smile at each other, when a father refuses to send his child to school because schools destroy children, when a commune is started and people begin to trust each other, when a young man refuses to go to war and when a girl pushes aside all that her mother has 'taught' her and accepts her boyfriends (sic) love.

— Bernie Sanders

What some of us believe is that it is possible that if chemicals are related to Gulf War illness that some of the more severe symptoms may not erupt until 10 or 20 years down the line.

— Bernie Sanders

You want to guarantee that all people have access to healthcare, as you do in Canada. But I think what we understand is that unless we change the funding system and the control mechanisms in this country to do that -- for example, if we expanded Medicaid [to] everybody. Give everybody a Medicaid card -- we would be spending such an astronomical sum of money that, you know, we would bankrupt the nation.

— Bernie Sanders

I think it makes people in the Pentagon kind of nervous to know that chemical agents and environmental factors could cause so much damage in terms of what may happen in the future.

— Bernie Sanders

I have always been a proponent of a national health care system. It just seemed eminently fair and right. How can we call this a civilized society when the children or parents of the rich get the medical attention they need in order to stay alive, while members of working-class families, who lack health insurance, have to die or needlessly suffer--or go hopelessly into debt to get the care they need? This is an outrageous injustice and it cannot be rationally defended.

— Bernie Sanders

After all, Wall Street is clearly the most powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2008, the financial sector spent over $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to deregulate Wall Street.

— Bernie Sanders

If you are serious about real healthcare reform, the only way to go is single-payer.

— Bernie Sanders

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

It looks like the is prepared to tell the billionaire class they cannot have it all. It looks like the South Bronx wants to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%. What this campaign is about is creating a political revolution. All over this country I am seeing millions of people standing up, fighting back, saying, “enough is enough.”

— Bernie Sanders

I think the overwhelming majority of the American people know that we have got to stand together, that we're going to grow together, that we're going to survive together, and that if we start splintering, we're not going to succeed in a highly competitive international economy.

— Bernie Sanders

Want to get on the front page of the paper? I have to make some vicious attack. I won't do that. I’m running an issue-oriented campaign.

— Bernie Sanders

Wall Street is greedy, reckless and they operate illegally. That's fine. But what do you do?

— Bernie Sanders

Enough is enough! [...] How many homes can you own?

— Bernie Sanders

The Fed has got to become a more democratic institution that is responsive to the needs of the middle class, not just Wall Street CEOs.

— Bernie Sanders

The bottom line is when Senator Inhofe says global warming is a hoax, he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of .

— Bernie Sanders

Who do you think controls the Republican Party? Big money controls the Republican Party. This is where their campaign contributions come from.

— Bernie Sanders

Finally, let us 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

No single should have holdings so extensive that its failure could send the world economy into another ... If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.

— Bernie Sanders

The bottom line is that when Senator Inhofe says, 'Global warming is a hoax,' he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of climate scientists.

— Bernie Sanders

"We have a president right now who doesn't consider himself a socialist but people call him a socialist as an insult. Are you concerned at all about framing yourself as this?" ...

— Bernie Sanders

As a single-payer advocate, I believe that at the end of the day, if a state goes forward and passed an effective single-payer program, it will demonstrate that you can provide quality health care to every man, woman and child in a more cost-effective way.

— Bernie Sanders

Are we happy that 99% of all new income is going to the top 1%? Are we happy that one family in this country owns more than the bottom 130 million people?

— Bernie Sanders

I think the American people in many cases want to transform our energy system.

— Bernie Sanders

Warren Buffett, one of the richest guys in the world, openly admits that his effective tax rate is lower than his secretary's. It's time to tell the billionaire class that if they want to enjoy the benefits of America, they have to accept their responsibilities, and they have to start paying their fair share of taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

You know, let me be very clear. I supported Barack Obama originally.

— Bernie Sanders

In the last thirty years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. Unfortunately, it's gone in the wrong direction. ... All that money that has gone from the middle class to the top 1%, I think it should start coming back to the people who need it the most.

— Bernie Sanders

Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999.

— Bernie Sanders

There are millions and millions of people who are tired of establishment politics, who are tired of corporate greed, who want a candidate that will help lead a mass movement in this country. ... What people are saying is, "Enough is enough. The billionaire class cannot have it all."

— Bernie Sanders

Ford's federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits.

— Bernie Sanders

In my view, and we've introduced legislation to deal with this, if a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.

— Bernie Sanders

Comcast rents modems directly to consumers, thereby competing directly with companies like Zoom. It has every reason to make Zoom modems more expensive or even to drive companies like Zoom out of business.

— Bernie Sanders

I think obviously vaccinations work. Vaccination has worked for many, many years. I am sensitive to the fact that there are some families who disagree but the difficulty is if I have a kid who is suffering from an illness who is subjected to a kid who walks into a room without vaccines that could kill that child and that's wrong.

— Bernie Sanders

If there is a silver lining in the action of MSNBC against Keith Olbermann, it is that people will now pay more attention to the political role of corporate media in America.

— Bernie Sanders

A nation that in many ways was created—I'm sorry to have to say this, from way back—on racist principles, that's a fact, we have come a long way as a nation.

— Bernie Sanders

General Electric, NBC's parent, is one of the largest corporations in the world, with an anti-labor history of outsourcing jobs and with financial links to military and nuclear power industries.

— Bernie Sanders

Absolutely, in fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means that in a democratic, civilized society the wealthiest people and the largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them to do to you, for this sums up the war and the prophets." That is the golden rule. Do unto others, what you would have them do to you. That is the golden rule, and it is not very complicated.

— Bernie Sanders

Now here is my point. Some of you may agree with me, and some of you may not, but in my view, it would be hard for anyone in this room today to make the case that the United States of America, our great country, a country which all of us love, it would be hard to make the case that we are a just society, or anything resembling a just society today.

— Bernie Sanders

There is no justice, and I want you to hear this clearly, when the top one-tenth of 1 percent -- not 1 percent, the top one-tenth of 1 percent -- today in America owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. And in your hearts, you will have to determine the morality of that, and the justice of that.

— Bernie Sanders

Do you think it's moral when 20 percent of the children in this country, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, are living in poverty? Do you think it is acceptable that 40 percent of African American children are living in poverty?

— Bernie Sanders

In my view, there is no justice when low income and working class mothers are forced to separate from their babies one or two weeks after birth and go back to work because they need the money that their jobs provide. Now I know everybody here -- we all are, maybe in different ways, but all of us believe in family values.

— Bernie Sanders

America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK.

— Bernie Sanders

When you’re white you don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto, you don’t know what it’s like to be poor...You don’t know what it’s like to be hassled when you walk down the street, or dragged out of a car. And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear, we will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system

— Bernie Sanders

Anybody help me out here, because I don't remember the figures, but my recollection is over 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza. Does that sound right? I don't have it in my number... but I think it's over 10,000. My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing that Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been.

— Bernie Sanders

We are living in a world where greed has become for the wealthiest people their own religion, and they make no apologies for it.

— Bernie Sanders

I've got to tell you, 25 years ago, I believe that in this country, we should not be selling automatic weapons which are designed to kill people. We have got to do everything that we can on top of that to make sure that guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them, criminals, people who are mentally ill. So that struggles continues.

— Bernie Sanders

The history of American democracy, to say the least, has been checkered. Our nation was founded at a time when people of African descent were held in bondage. After slavery was abolished, they were forced to endure legal discrimination for another 100 years.

— Bernie Sanders

The political revolution is not about one election or one candidate. It is about transforming America and continuing the fight for economic, social, racial and environmental justice. We have to continue to work together to advance the progressive future we all support.

— Bernie Sanders

People can argue about the pluses and minuses of marijuana, but everyone knows it’s not a killer drug like heroin.

— Bernie Sanders

I fear very much that, in fact, government of the people, by the people and for the people is beginning to perish in America.

— Bernie Sanders

The business model of Wall Street is fraud. In my view, there is no better example than the recently-exposed illegal behavior at .

— Bernie Sanders

We have got to end the two-tier justice system—one for the poor and working class and one for Wall Street and the wealthy—that has existed for far too long in this country.

— Bernie Sanders

For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.

— Bernie Sanders

Wall Street won’t change until we make it clear that no bank is too big to fail and no CEO is too big to jail.

— Bernie Sanders

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

— Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump is a pathological liar.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

— Bernie Sanders

What media loves is to focus on the candidates. What the American people, I believe, want is for us to focus on them, not the candidates, not anymore.

— Bernie Sanders

I am a socialist; of course I am a socialist. To hold a vision that society can be fundamentally different, to believe that all people can be equal - that is not a new idea.

— Bernie Sanders

Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free.

— Bernie Sanders

Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit; it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas, and that's a good thing.

— Bernie Sanders

But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country.

— Bernie Sanders

Denmark is a small, homogenous nation of about 5.5 million people. The United States is a melting pot of more than 315 million people. No question about it, Denmark and the United States are very different countries.

— Bernie Sanders

There is one major country that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country--the United States--which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people.

— Bernie Sanders

Yes, we become stronger when black and whites, Latino, Asian American, Native American, when all of us stand together.

— Bernie Sanders

Billionaires and Wall Street should not be buying elections.

— Bernie Sanders

What Wall Street and credit card companies are doing is really not much different from what gangsters and loan sharks do who make predatory loans. While the bankers wear three-piece suits and don't break the knee caps of those who can't pay back, they still are destroying people's lives.

— Bernie Sanders

Today in America, the middle class is disappearing.

— Bernie Sanders

Together, together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution, our revolution, continues!

— Bernie Sanders

I applaud President Obama for his efforts on DAPA and DACA. And I think we have got to expand those efforts. ... Now I happen to agree with President Obama on many, many issues. I think he has done a great job as president of the United States. He is wrong on this issue of deportation. I disagree with him on that.

— Bernie Sanders

Every day we are paying more for energy than we should due to poor insulation, inefficient lights, appliances, and heating and cooling equipment - money we could save by investing in energy efficiency.

— Bernie Sanders

Every day we are paying more for energy than we should due to poor insulation, inefficient lights, appliances, and heating and cooling equipment - money we could save by investing in energy efficiency.

— Bernie Sanders

I think that what we need is to create policies which deal with immigration in a rational way. And a rational way is not locking children up in detention centers or separating them from their mothers. What we need is Trump to sit down with members of Congress and work on a rational program which deals with this serious issue.

— Bernie Sanders

Before Congress cuts funding for Head Start, Social Security, and financial aid for college, we have got to make sure that large, profitable corporations are paying their fair share of taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

People don't trust private health insurance companies for all the right reasons.

— Bernie Sanders

President Donald Trump’s own words helped inspire the worst act of antisemitic violence in American history.

— Bernie Sanders

When I talk about democratic socialist, I'm not looking at Venezuela. I'm not looking at Cuba. I'm looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.

— Bernie Sanders

The forces fomenting antisemitism are the forces arrayed against oppressed people around the world, including Palestinians; the struggle against antisemitism is also the struggle for Palestinian freedom. I stand in solidarity with my friends in Israel, in Palestine, and around the world who are trying to resolve conflict, diminish hatred, and promote dialogue, cooperation, and understanding.

— Bernie Sanders

What being a socialist means is... that you hold out... a vision of society where poverty is absolutely unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed... but on cooperation... where human beings can own the means of production and work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire.

— Bernie Sanders

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

I am a socialist, and everyone knows it.

— Bernie Sanders

Finland is no utopia.

— Bernie Sanders

Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as 'socialist.' Yet, these programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class.

— Bernie Sanders

Whether you are a low-income elderly woman living at the end of a dirt road in Vermont or a wealthy CEO living on Park Avenue, you get your mail six days a week. And you pay for this service at a cost far less than anywhere else in the industrialized world.

— Bernie Sanders

At the insistence of the Bush administration, Congress in 2006 passed legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund, over a 10-year period, 75 years of future retiree health benefits.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not a Democrat, I'm an Independent, but I caucus with the Democrats.

— Bernie Sanders

Nowadays you don't need to be a senator or a CEO or a celebrity to have a voice in the media, and if you happen to be a senator, a CEO or a celebrity, you have a thousand people each with their own respective audiences to hold you accountable.

— Bernie Sanders

We need leadership in this country, which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger.

— Bernie Sanders

For better or worse, when Sen. Inhofe speaks, the Republican Party follows. And when the Republican Party follows, it is impossible to get real work done in the Congress.

— Bernie Sanders

Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.

— Bernie Sanders

The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party.

— Bernie Sanders

In 2008, Goldman Sachs only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

— Bernie Sanders

There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service.

— Bernie Sanders

If we are serious about moving toward energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy.

— Bernie Sanders

There are a lot of smart honest, progressive people who I think can be good presidents.

— Bernie Sanders

Yes, we become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant fight together to create the kind of country we all know we can become.

— Bernie Sanders

Difficult times often bring out the best in people.

— Bernie Sanders

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent - a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice - that struggle continues.

— Bernie Sanders

For every $1 billion we invest in public transportation, we create 30,000 jobs, save thousands of dollars a year for each commuter, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.

— Bernie Sanders

Finally, let us 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

When I talk about democratic socialist, I am talking about Medicare, a single payer health care system for the elderly. And in my view, we should expand that concept to all people. I believe that everybody in this country should be entitled to health care as a right.

— Bernie Sanders

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

— Bernie Sanders

Every working family in America knows how hard it is today to find affordable childcare or early childhood education.

— Bernie Sanders

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

Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

— Bernie Sanders

Not only must we fight to end disastrous unfettered free trade agreements with China, Mexico, and other low wage countries, we must fight to fundamentally rewrite our trade agreements so that American products, not jobs, are our number one export.

— Bernie Sanders

It makes a lot more sense for us to be investing in jobs and education rather than jails and incarceration.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower.

— Bernie Sanders

At its worst, Washington is a place where name-calling partisan politics too often trumps policy.

— Bernie Sanders

I don't believe there's a red state in America where people believe you should cut Medicare, Social Security and veterans' benefits rather than doing away with corporate tax loopholes.

— Bernie Sanders

I think there are a lot of people who, when they hear the word 'socialist,' get very, very nervous.

— Bernie Sanders

The history of American democracy, to say the least, has been checkered. Our nation was founded at a time when people of African descent were held in bondage. After slavery was abolished, they were forced to endure legal discrimination for another 100 years.

— Bernie Sanders

Clinton understands that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is one of the great environmental crises facing our planet. She knows that we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and move aggressively to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

— Bernie Sanders

What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.

— Bernie Sanders

While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American - when all of us stand together.

— Bernie Sanders

It is incomprehensible that drug companies still get away with charging Americans twice as much, or more, than citizens of Canada or Europe for the exact same drugs manufactured by the exact same companies.

— Bernie Sanders

We need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels, polluting fuels... I am very, very confident our small state will lead this. We will be noticed by the country and the world.

— Bernie Sanders

The goal of real healthcare reform must be high-quality, universal coverage in a cost-effective way.

— Bernie Sanders

Let me thank the 2 1/2 million Americans who helped fund our campaign with an unprecedented 8 million individual campaign contributions. Anyone know what that average contribution was? That's right, $27.

— Bernie Sanders

If we are going to reverse the race to the bottom, workers must have the right to engage in collective bargaining.

— Bernie Sanders

I see a future where states compete with one another to see which can be the most efficient, and where businesses seek out efficient states in which to locate so they can reap the economic and environmental benefits for their businesses and employees.

— Bernie Sanders

For much of America, the all-American values depicted in Norman Rockwell's classic illustrations are idealistic. For those of us from Vermont, they're realistic. That's what we do.

— Bernie Sanders

Vermonters often ask me whether I am pessimistic about the future of our country. My honest answer is that I am not.

— Bernie Sanders

When I ran for the Senate the first time, I ran against the wealthiest guy in the state of Vermont. He spent a lot on advertising - very ugly stuff. He kept attacking me as a liberal. He didn't use the word 'socialist' at all because everybody in the state knows that I am that.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not much into speculation.

— Bernie Sanders

I see a future where states compete with one another to see which can be the most efficient, and where businesses seek out efficient states in which to locate so they can reap the economic and environmental benefits for their businesses and employees.

— Bernie Sanders

Health care in Denmark is universal, free of charge and high quality. Everybody is covered as a right of citizenship.

— Bernie Sanders

Clinton understands that in a competitive global economy we need the best-educated workforce in the world. She and I worked together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not always a smiley kind of guy.

— Bernie Sanders

I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her, as you do, as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care.

— Bernie Sanders

For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.

— Bernie Sanders

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

— Bernie Sanders

I am a socialist; of course I am a socialist. To hold a vision that society can be fundamentally different, to believe that all people can be equal - that is not a new idea.

— Bernie Sanders

Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit; it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas, and that's a good thing.

— Bernie Sanders

Denmark is a small, homogenous nation of about 5.5 million people. The United States is a melting pot of more than 315 million people. No question about it, Denmark and the United States are very different countries.

— Bernie Sanders

Yes, we become stronger when black and whites, Latino, Asian American, Native American, when all of us stand together.

— Bernie Sanders

What Wall Street and credit card companies are doing is really not much different from what gangsters and loan sharks do who make predatory loans. While the bankers wear three-piece suits and don't break the knee caps of those who can't pay back, they still are destroying people's lives.

— Bernie Sanders

Together, together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution, our revolution, continues!

— Bernie Sanders

Every day we are paying more for energy than we should due to poor insulation, inefficient lights, appliances, and heating and cooling equipment - money we could save by investing in energy efficiency.

— Bernie Sanders

Before Congress cuts funding for Head Start, Social Security, and financial aid for college, we have got to make sure that large, profitable corporations are paying their fair share of taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

When I talk about democratic socialist, I'm not looking at Venezuela. I'm not looking at Cuba. I'm looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.

— Bernie Sanders

What being a socialist means is... that you hold out... a vision of society where poverty is absolutely unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed... but on cooperation... where human beings can own the means of production and work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire.

— Bernie Sanders

I am a socialist, and everyone knows it.

— Bernie Sanders

Finland is no utopia.

— Bernie Sanders

Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as 'socialist.' Yet, these programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class.

— Bernie Sanders

Whether you are a low-income elderly woman living at the end of a dirt road in Vermont or a wealthy CEO living on Park Avenue, you get your mail six days a week. And you pay for this service at a cost far less than anywhere else in the industrialized world.

— Bernie Sanders

At the insistence of the Bush administration, Congress in 2006 passed legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund, over a 10-year period, 75 years of future retiree health benefits.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not a Democrat, I'm an Independent, but I caucus with the Democrats.

— Bernie Sanders

Nowadays you don't need to be a senator or a CEO or a celebrity to have a voice in the media, and if you happen to be a senator, a CEO or a celebrity, you have a thousand people each with their own respective audiences to hold you accountable.

— Bernie Sanders

We need leadership in this country, which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger.

— Bernie Sanders

There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service.

— Bernie Sanders

For better or worse, when Sen. Inhofe speaks, the Republican Party follows. And when the Republican Party follows, it is impossible to get real work done in the Congress.

— Bernie Sanders

Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.

— Bernie Sanders

The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party.

— Bernie Sanders

In 2008, Goldman Sachs only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

— Bernie Sanders

There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service.

— Bernie Sanders

If we are serious about moving toward energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy.

— Bernie Sanders

There are a lot of smart honest, progressive people who I think can be good presidents.

— Bernie Sanders

Yes, we become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant fight together to create the kind of country we all know we can become.

— Bernie Sanders

Difficult times often bring out the best in people.

— Bernie Sanders

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent - a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice - that struggle continues.

— Bernie Sanders

For every $1 billion we invest in public transportation, we create 30,000 jobs, save thousands of dollars a year for each commuter, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.

— Bernie Sanders

Finally, let us 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

When I talk about democratic socialist, I am talking about Medicare, a single payer health care system for the elderly. And in my view, we should expand that concept to all people. I believe that everybody in this country should be entitled to health care as a right.

— Bernie Sanders

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

— Bernie Sanders

Every working family in America knows how hard it is today to find affordable childcare or early childhood education.

— Bernie Sanders

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

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent - a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice - that struggle continues.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

— Bernie Sanders

Not only must we fight to end disastrous unfettered free trade agreements with China, Mexico, and other low wage countries, we must fight to fundamentally rewrite our trade agreements so that American products, not jobs, are our number one export.

— Bernie Sanders

It makes a lot more sense for us to be investing in jobs and education rather than jails and incarceration.

— Bernie Sanders

I think it makes people in the Pentagon kind of nervous to know that chemical agents and environmental factors could cause so much damage in terms of what may happen in the future.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower.

— Bernie Sanders

At its worst, Washington is a place where name-calling partisan politics too often trumps policy.

— Bernie Sanders

When I talk about democratic socialist, I am talking about Medicare, a single payer health care system for the elderly. And in my view, we should expand that concept to all people. I believe that everybody in this country should be entitled to health care as a right.

— Bernie Sanders

I don't believe there's a red state in America where people believe you should cut Medicare, Social Security and veterans' benefits rather than doing away with corporate tax loopholes.

— Bernie Sanders

I think there are a lot of people who, when they hear the word 'socialist,' get very, very nervous.

— Bernie Sanders

Clinton understands that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is one of the great environmental crises facing our planet. She knows that we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and move aggressively to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

— Bernie Sanders

What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.

— Bernie Sanders

While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American - when all of us stand together.

— Bernie Sanders

It is incomprehensible that drug companies still get away with charging Americans twice as much, or more, than citizens of Canada or Europe for the exact same drugs manufactured by the exact same companies.

— Bernie Sanders

We need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels, polluting fuels... I am very, very confident our small state will lead this. We will be noticed by the country and the world.

— Bernie Sanders

The goal of real healthcare reform must be high-quality, universal coverage in a cost-effective way.

— Bernie Sanders

Let me thank the 2 1/2 million Americans who helped fund our campaign with an unprecedented 8 million individual campaign contributions. Anyone know what that average contribution was? That's right, $27.

— Bernie Sanders

If we are going to reverse the race to the bottom, workers must have the right to engage in collective bargaining.

— Bernie Sanders

For much of America, the all-American values depicted in Norman Rockwell's classic illustrations are idealistic. For those of us from Vermont, they're realistic. That's what we do.

— Bernie Sanders

When I ran for the Senate the first time, I ran against the wealthiest guy in the state of Vermont. He spent a lot on advertising - very ugly stuff. He kept attacking me as a liberal. He didn't use the word 'socialist' at all because everybody in the state knows that I am that.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not much into speculation.

— Bernie Sanders

I see a future where states compete with one another to see which can be the most efficient, and where businesses seek out efficient states in which to locate so they can reap the economic and environmental benefits for their businesses and employees.

— Bernie Sanders

Health care in Denmark is universal, free of charge and high quality. Everybody is covered as a right of citizenship.

— Bernie Sanders

Clinton understands that in a competitive global economy we need the best-educated workforce in the world. She and I worked together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America.

— Bernie Sanders

I'm not always a smiley kind of guy.

— Bernie Sanders

I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her, as you do, as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care.

— Bernie Sanders

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

While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the minimum wage below $7.25. What an outrage!

— Bernie Sanders

In terms of job creation, every billion dollars invested in the physical infrastructure creates 47,000 new jobs.

— Bernie Sanders

There is nobody that I know who believes that Bank of America is a human being who should be entitled for the same constitutional rights that the people of our country are.

— Bernie Sanders

You go to Scandinavia, and you will find that people have a much higher standard of living, in terms of education, health care and decent paying jobs.

— Bernie Sanders

For too long, unfunded federal mandates have drained the budgets of states and communities. The strength and vitality of our communities must be restored.

— Bernie Sanders

While commentators on Fox and right-wing radio have the backing of Rupert Murdoch, a major Republican contributor, and other conservative corporations, progressives understand that their position is extremely vulnerable.

— Bernie Sanders

One in four corporations doesn't pay any taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

Good environmental policy is good economic policy.

— Bernie Sanders

Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent - a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice - that struggle continues.

— Bernie Sanders

My view of democratic socialism builds on the success of many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, their elderly citizens, the children, the sick and the poor.

— Bernie Sanders

Most of us have not heard about Master Limited Partnerships. These special financing arrangements allow oil and gas investors to avoid paying certain corporate income taxes, but are not available to clean energy businesses.

— Bernie Sanders

Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United!

— Bernie Sanders

In 1940, then-Senator Harry Truman headed up a Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. In the course of World War II, more than $15 billion in unnecessary and fraudulent defense spending was identified.

— Bernie Sanders

If we are serious about moving toward energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy.

— Bernie Sanders

It used to be that I was known as 'the longest-serving independent in the history of the United States Congress,' which is true. Now I'm a 'self-professed democratic socialist.' Things change when you run for president.

— Bernie Sanders

Today the biggest problem in caring for those with AIDS is no longer mainly a medical or scientific problem. The crisis is access to affordable drugs.

— Bernie Sanders

The history of American democracy, to say the least, has been checkered. Our nation was founded at a time when people of African descent were held in bondage. After slavery was abolished, they were forced to endure legal discrimination for another 100 years.

— Bernie Sanders

It is time we had democratic socialism for working families, not just Wall Street billionaires.

— Bernie Sanders

Today the biggest problem in caring for those with AIDS is no longer mainly a medical or scientific problem. The crisis is access to affordable drugs.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means that our government does everything it can to create a full employment economy.

— Bernie Sanders

While I may not agree with all of President Obama's energy policies, I strongly supported his successful effort to double fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

— Bernie Sanders

Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country, was 'socialist.' The concept of the 'minimum wage' was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as 'socialist.'

— Bernie Sanders

The minimum wage in Denmark is about twice that of the United States, and people who are totally out of the labor market or unable to care for themselves have a basic income guarantee of about $100 per day.

— Bernie Sanders

Let's be honest, dental care in America is extremely expensive, period.

— Bernie Sanders

It has become clear that the function of a private health insurance is to make as much money as possible. Every dollar not paid out in claims is another dollar made in profits for the company.

— Bernie Sanders

The next time you hear me attacked as a socialist - like tomorrow - remember this: I don't believe that government should take over the grocery store down the street or control the means of production. But I believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.

— Bernie Sanders

If the U.S. can transform its domestic market for HIV/AIDS drugs, it will certainly transform the world market and make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable for everyone, everywhere.

— Bernie Sanders

I would ask... of my supporters to get away from the personality conflicts that media tries to bring forward and focus on the real issues impacting the American people. And when you do that, I think the choice is pretty clear and that is that Hillary Clinton is far and away the superior candidate.

— Bernie Sanders

All that socialism means to me, to be very frank with you, is democracy with a small 'd.' I believe in democracy, and by democracy, I mean that, to as great an extent as possible, human beings have the right to control their own lives. And that means that you cannot separate the political structure from the economic structure.

— Bernie Sanders

Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in America this country works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. She understands that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage.

— Bernie Sanders

Danes pay very high taxes, but in return enjoy a quality of life that many Americans would find hard to believe.

— Bernie Sanders

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

— Bernie Sanders

It has become clear that the function of a private health insurance is to make as much money as possible. Every dollar not paid out in claims is another dollar made in profits for the company.

— Bernie Sanders

Mitt Romney's energy policy is a relic of the 19th century. We need a 21st century plan. The fate of the planet is at stake.

— Bernie Sanders

We all remember the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. What is less well known is that BP is claiming a 9.9 billion tax deduction on the money they had to spend cleaning up their own mess and paying for damages they caused. That is absurd.

— Bernie Sanders

I have introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and make it clear that the Congress and state legislatures do have the ability and the power to regulate and get corporate funding out of political campaigns.

— Bernie Sanders

You've got the top 400 Americans owning more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans. Most folks do not think that is right.

— Bernie Sanders

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

Of course the Republicans have long wanted to privatize Social Security and destroy it. But Social Security has been the most important and valuable social program in the history of the United States.

— Bernie Sanders

It has become clear that the function of a private health insurance is to make as much money as possible. Every dollar not paid out in claims is another dollar made in profits for the company.

— Bernie Sanders

The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.

— Bernie Sanders

In 49 countries around the world, including all of Europe, people have the opportunity of knowing whether or not they are eating food which contains genetically engineered ingredients. In the United States, we don't.

— Bernie Sanders

I don't consider myself a pariah.

— Bernie Sanders

Before Social Security existed, about half of America's senior citizens lived in poverty.

— Bernie Sanders

I see a future where getting to work or to school or to the store does not have to cause pollution.

— Bernie Sanders

In 2009, UnitedHealth, a leading insurance company, paid $350 million to settle lawsuits brought by the American Medical Association and other physician groups for shortchanging consumers and physicians for medical services outside its preferred network.

— Bernie Sanders

The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed's lending programs during the financial crisis.

— Bernie Sanders

The Federal Reserve has a responsibility to ensure the safety and soundness of financial institutions and to contain systemic risks in financial markets.

— Bernie Sanders

When a mother goes to the store and purchases food for her child, she has the right to know what she is feeding her family.

— Bernie Sanders

If you don't believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights, and the future of our country.

— Bernie Sanders

The U.S. constitution is an extraordinary document. In my view, it should not be amended often.

— Bernie Sanders

The Blunt Amendment would have allowed any employer who provided health insurance, or any insurance company, the right to deny coverage for contraception or any other kind of procedure if the employer had a 'moral' objection to it.

— Bernie Sanders

I certainly did not know what the word 'socialism' meant growing up, because I was brought up in a very nonpolitical family. My brother was somewhat active, but my parents were not.

— Bernie Sanders

If we completely repealed the estate tax, it would provide an estimated $32 billion tax break for the Walton family - the founders of Wal-Mart.

— Bernie Sanders

As a member of both the energy and environment committees, I am constantly astounded by how many of my colleagues prefer to focus on what the government can do for the nuclear or coal industries rather than why the government should support clean and sustainable energy.

— Bernie Sanders

You go to your public library, or you call your fire department or police department, what do you think you are calling? These are socialist institutions.

— Bernie Sanders

Each and every year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion a year in tax revenues due to offshore tax abuses by the wealthy and large corporations.

— Bernie Sanders

Good environmental policy is good economic policy.

— Bernie Sanders

But what I intend to do, the day after Hillary Clinton is elected president of the United States, is to do everything I can to make sure she goes forward as progressively as she can.

— Bernie Sanders

The Postal Service is a vitally important institution for the American people. It must be saved.

— Bernie Sanders

We have over 13 million people who supported my candidacy. And I have no doubt that there are some of those people who will not vote for Hillary Clinton.

— Bernie Sanders

There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service.

— Bernie Sanders

Washington is dominated by big money.

— Bernie Sanders

Why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major - the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so.

— Bernie Sanders

In cold weather states like Vermont, where the weather can get to 20 below zero, home heating assistance is critically important. In fact, it is a life and death issue.

— Bernie Sanders

History will record that the Citizens United decision is one of the worst in the history of our country.

— Bernie Sanders

If credit unions can grow and prosper with a 15 percent cap, so can banks.

— Bernie Sanders

To be honest with you, I worry about concentration of ownership in media, where you have a handful of media conglomerates largely controlling what we see, hear and read.

— Bernie Sanders

We all remember the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. What is less well known is that BP is claiming a 9.9 billion tax deduction on the money they had to spend cleaning up their own mess and paying for damages they caused. That is absurd.

— Bernie Sanders

If you ask me about my views on the environment, on women's rights, on gay rights, I am liberal. I don't have a problem with that at all. Some of my best friends are liberal.

— Bernie Sanders

The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks.

— Bernie Sanders

Hillary Clinton understands that a president's job is to worry about future generations, not the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry.

— Bernie Sanders

Democratic socialism means, that in a democratic, civilized society, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes.

— Bernie Sanders

Shouting down and intimidating someone from speaking their mind is not exactly a Vermont town meeting value, nor should it be an American town meeting value.

— Bernie Sanders

When we talk about the healthcare crisis in America we've got to also be talking about the dental crisis and how to address it.

— Bernie Sanders

People don't trust private health insurance companies for all the right reasons.

— Bernie Sanders

In my view, a corporation is not a person. A corporation does not have First Amendment rights to spend as much money as it wants, without disclosure, on a political campaign.

— Bernie Sanders

At the current $5.15 an hour, the federal minimum wage has become a poverty wage. A full-time worker with one child lives below the official poverty line.

— Bernie Sanders

Look, if you have somebody who doesn't have health insurance, who doesn't have a doctor or dentist, and in order to deal with their cold or flu or dental problem, they go to an emergency room - in general, that visit will cost ten times more than walking into a community health center.

— Bernie Sanders

Difficult times often bring out the best in people.

— Bernie Sanders

Coal and oil lobbyists added fossil fuels to a bill aimed at helping American manufacturers, so they too could claim 'manufacturing' tax deductions.

— Bernie Sanders

There must be a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages.

— Bernie Sanders

Bill Clinton is a moderate Democrat. I'm a democratic socialist.

— Bernie Sanders

We still have people in the active duty, and if people are feeling ill, if they're experiencing various symptoms and they're still in the active duty, they're less likely to come forward because that could result in their medical discharge.

— Bernie Sanders

Establishing a 0.03 percent Wall Street speculation fee, similar to what we had from 1914-1966, would dampen the dangerous level of speculation and gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy and reduce the deficit by more than $350 billion over 10 years.

— Bernie Sanders

Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.

— Bernie Sanders

In Vermont, Governor Madeleine Kunin has given years of service to our state after becoming the state's first female governor in 1985. She is an inspiration to girls throughout Vermont and the country in allowing them to know that the opportunities they have are unlimited.

— Bernie Sanders

These are the same people who believe, in some cases, the federal government should not play any role in providing health care to our people or protecting the environment.

— Bernie Sanders

If you look at the newspapers here - the Washington papers - most of the discussion deals with campaign gossip.

— Bernie Sanders

In 2009, UnitedHealth, a leading insurance company, paid $350 million to settle lawsuits brought by the American Medical Association and other physician groups for shortchanging consumers and physicians for medical services outside its preferred network.

— Bernie Sanders

Two-thirds of the directors at the New York Fed are hand-picked by the same bankers that the Fed is in charge of regulating.

— Bernie Sanders