A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.

There is a lot of difference between failure and defeat. Failure is when you are defeated and neither learn nor contribute anything.

Freedom is the most contagious virus known to man.

You cannot tell a poor boy from a small country town on the plains of South Dakota who has had the opportunity to be a teacher, a mayor, a senator, and a vice president, that America is not a nation of promise.

We will be remembered not for the power of our weapons but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.

I learned more about the economy from one South Dakota dust storm that I did in all my years of college.

People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can't pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as exotic but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.