Bill Clinton Quotes

In my presidency I've been guided by what's right, not what's popular.

I may fall here in the Senate chamber, but I will. never make any compromise with any such men.

I'm not taking votes based on getting re-elected.

That's one reason I retired as a sergeant and not at a higher rank... I refused to 'play the game' the way the bosses wanted the game played. It is a decision that has cost me money in retirement pay but one that I have never regretted.

It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

The toughest thing to do in politics is to do the right thing when your supporters think the right thing is something else.

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

For the first time in my life, I put my body and reputation on the line to stand up for my beliefs and do the right thing. I hope I've encouraged other people to do the same.

But on the big things, I'm not going to trim in order to win public opinion. Because I really don't want to serve in the Senate if I arrive there without permission to do the things I think need to be done.

My outspoken positions haven't always been popular in the halls of Congress, but they have been rooted in what I believed was right and necessary.

I voted against my party with some frequency, because of my independence. I've just got to remind Missourians that I am independent and that I try to call them like I see them, and sometimes my party is wrong on some things.

My role isn't to be politically smart. My role is to do what's right under the constitution. And if that's politically unpopular, so be it.

Political courage reads well in editorials, but it doesn't translate into political reality.

Winston Churchill was willing to tell the people what they didn’t want to hear, and pay the political price for it…. That kind of leadership we don’t seem to have anymore.

If my doing the right thing will cost me my seat, they can take this job and shove it.

I stand for all people even if it causes me political heartburn - and I'm going to do that no matter what my future holds.

Doing the right thing is a decision, which in many cases means you stand alone.

The number of Pelosi allies who have come to me and told me to back off, that I'm not doing the right thing, is exactly zero. The number of members of the caucus who voted for her, who have checked to see who was listening and then patted me on the back and then said, 'Keep going Seth, you're doing the right thing,' is literally dozens.

In American politics, there's a recurring fantasy, nurtured by the press, about 'courageous' politicians who do the right thing against their political interest. But really, isn't it even more encouraging when the right thing has just become good politics?

I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless[ly] and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized.

My guiding principle as president has been to try to do the right thing even when it's not politically convenient.

I am simply not prepared to stand back and watch my country fall off a cliff edge. If that means voting against my party, so be it.

There are things that matter more than your election. That may take difficult votes, may take career-ending votes for people, but if we aren't willing to do that, then we're not going to move forward.

Death should not be a taxable event.

The protest that we go to or the time that we stand up for someone or do the right thing - despite its difficulty... We might not see the return of it, but who knows whose lives we can change by doing those things.