108 Best Bernie Sanders Quotes on Leadership and Life

Bernie Sanders was born in 1941 and is the longest-serving independent member of Congress.

He is an influential figure in American politics. With a tenure in the U.S. Senate and 16 years in the House of Representatives, Sanders, who began his political career as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, has a reputation for his commitment to the American middle class and bridging the income and wealth gaps.

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Recognized as a “practical and successful legislator”, he led important legislation for the VA healthcare system and has been successful in transcending partisan divides.

Related: Sharice Davids Quotes from the American Politician and Sam Rayburn Quotes from American Politician and Speaker

As a member and chairman of several Senate Committees, Sanders has been a strong advocate for renewable energy, infrastructure development and combatting corporate greed, showing a consistent dedication to issues that directly affect the American public.

I have picked some of his best quotes for you.


Best Bernie Sanders Quotes

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It’s better to show up than to give up. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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

The police killings of unarmed African Americans has got to stop. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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

For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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

I think the issue of income and wealth inequality is in fact a moral issue. ~ Bernie Sanders.

The major political task that together we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I believe when we stand together when we share the vision that government should work for all of us, there is nothing we can’t accomplish. ~ 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 did a lot of reading. I read about democratic socialism. And I read about the efforts of people for such a long time trying to create a society in which all people can live with dignity. And that’s kind of what I believe. ~ Bernie Sanders.

The billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I have friends and supporters in the Human Rights Fund and Planned Parenthood. Hillary Clinton has been around there for a very, very long time. Some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment. ~ 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.

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.

You can have a different point of view on immigration or anything else, but we cannot be attacking people because of their religion. ~ Bernie Sanders.

We can have paid family and medical leave. We can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. These are not revolutionary, radical ideas. They’re kind of common sense. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I think my experience at the University of Chicago, working in the civil rights movement, working in the peace movement, working with community organizations, did a lot to influence the politics that I have. ~ Bernie Sanders.

We need the best educated workforce in the world. Hundreds of thousands of bright, young, qualified people who want to go to college or get a higher education are unable to do so, not because they lack the ability but because they lack the money. ~ 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.

Top Bernie Sanders Quotes

The fossil fuel industry for too long has shifted enormous costs of carbon pollution onto the public. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

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.

The United States must lead the world in reversing climate change. We can do that. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Social security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. We are not going to cut social security! We are going to expand social security!”

We need a very progressive and strong agenda to bring people into the political process because I worry very much about the future of the American democracy where so many people are giving up. ~ Bernie Sanders.

All I can say is if you check my record going back a long time, I have stood with those who are hurting. I have stood with those who have no money. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I was not a great student at the University of Chicago. I think that is – the record will bare me out. But I spent a lot of time reading history, sociology, psychology – reading everything except what I was supposed to read for class the next day. ~ 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.

Debating, doubting, or rejecting the basic scientific facts about climate change in the face of the overwhelming evidence and overwhelming scientific opinion will not change those facts. ~ Bernie Sanders.

We are not going back. We are not returning to the days of back-room abortions, when countless women died or were maimed. The decision about abortion must remain a decision for the woman, her family and a physician to make, not the government. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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Washington is dominated by big money. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

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.

Famous Bernie Sanders Quotes

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 hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet. ~ Bernie Sanders.

People don’t trust private health insurance companies for all the right reasons. ~ Bernie Sanders.

People understand that the economy is rigged. They’re working longer hours for low wages. All new income and wealth, almost all, is going to the people on top. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I am certainly not campaigning to be president because my last name is Clinton. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Don’t underestimate me. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

A number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They’re Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. ~ 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.

Don’t take it out on the Muslims. Don’t take it out on Latinos. Try to help us work together to create a country where your kids and you can have a decent standard of living. It has to be a bold and radical agenda. ~ Bernie Sanders.

This is a war for the soul of Islam. And those countries who are opposed to Islam, they are going to have to get deeply involved in a way that is not the case today. We should be supportive of that effort. ~ Bernie Sanders.

If the goal of healthcare reform is to provide comprehensive, universal health care in a cost-effective way, the only honest approach is a single-payer approach. ~ Bernie Sanders.

The greed of the billionaire class has got to end and we are going to end it for them. ~ Bernie Sanders.

My mission is to raise incomes for hard working middle class families. If you work hard and do your part you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. ~ 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.

Big business is willing to destroy the planet for short-term profits. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I’m not a Democrat, I’m an Independent, but I caucus with the Democrats. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I have a long history in fighting for civil rights. I understand that many people in the African-American community may not understand that. ~ 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.

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.

We are not going back. Not only are we not going to retreat on women’s rights, we are going to expand them. We are going forward, not backward. ~ Bernie Sanders.

As president, I will fight to make tuition in public colleges and universities free, as well as substantially lower interest rates on student loans. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

If the environment were a bank, it would have been saved by now. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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I don’t consider myself a pariah. ~ Bernie Sanders.

When you talk about heroines and heroes, at the top of the list has got to be the single moms of America. ~ Bernie Sanders.

What we have got to do immediately is to say that racism and xenophobia is totally unacceptable and we will stand with the 1 percent of our population who are Muslims, for undocumented people in this country. Absolutely, we will stand. ~ Bernie Sanders.

You can’t become a billionaire stepping over children sleeping on the street. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

Thoughtful Bernie Sanders Quotes

It costs a hell of a lot more money to put somebody in jail than send them to the University of Virginia. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Countering violent extremism and destroying ISIS must be done primarily by Muslim nations with the strong support of their global partners. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Change will not take place without political participation. ~ 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.

What kind of nation are we when we give tax breaks to billionaires, but we can’t take care of the elderly and the children. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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

When we stand together there is nothing, nothing, nothing we cannot accomplish. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Education should be a right, not a privilege. We need a revolution in the way that the United States funds higher education. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

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.

I happen to believe that we should move to a Medicare-for-all single-payer system, similar to what other countries around the world have. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

In the United States today we have the most unequal wealth and income distribution of any major country on earth – worse than at any time since the 1920s. This is an economy that must be changed in fundamental ways. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

People in American jails are disproportionately people of color. That’s the reality in America today. That’s a reality that has to change. ~ Bernie Sanders.

If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. ~ Bernie Sanders.

What my campaign is about is a political revolution – millions of people standing up and saying, enough is enough. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the hand full of billionaires. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I do not believe that we must maintain a bloated military budget which spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined and may lead us to perpetual warfare in the Middle East. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. ~ Bernie Sanders.

Wise Bernie Sanders Quotes

We have to say to the billionaire class, enough is enough. You cannot have it all. You are going to pay more in taxes. ~ Bernie Sanders.

A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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

I’m not much into speculation. ~ 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.

As the nation at last confronts global warming, it is no time for denial, greed, cynicism or pessimism. ~ Bernie Sanders.

In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. ~ 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.

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.

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.

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.

Being Jewish and having lost relatives in the Holocaust, I’ve always been aware of the meaning of prejudice. These are things that have remained with me throughout my political career. ~ Bernie Sanders.

The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process. ~ Bernie Sanders.

What I saw in Baltimore was distressing and it tells me we need stronger policies in this country. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

We can’t allow racism and xenophobia to gain traction. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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.

I don’t believe government should take over, you know, the grocery store down the street or own the means of production. ~ Bernie Sanders.

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Don’t go to the dark side. Don’t go bashing immigrants or Muslims. ~ Bernie Sanders.

A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little. ~ Bernie Sanders.

I’m a former mayor. I know that being a cop is not an easy job. But when police officers misbehave, they’ve got to be held accountable. ~ 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.

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.

Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. ~ Bernie Sanders.


So these were the 108 top Bernie Sanders quotes about leadership, socialism and life from the US politician.

If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Anthony Hopkins quotes and Shirley Chisholm quotes.

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Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of Internet Pillar - I love sharing quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar