Quotes from Beto O'Rourke

Our long memories hold the stories of what our people accomplished, but they also hold the prejudices, the injustices, the harm that we've received from others.

My dad was very critical and had very high expectations without a lot of the details filled in. It was, 'I expect you to achieve greatness in grades, in athletics, in whatever you do.'

The goal should be universal, guaranteed, high-quality health care.

We must work towards solutions that make housing, transportation, the workforce, and higher education more equitable.

Juarez had become a failed city. The mayor of Juarez lived in El Paso. Not only did he not live in his own city, he didn't live in his own country. You had all these kids out of school who didn't want to work because they saw their mothers toiling in jobs for hardly any cash.

We're all connected, related, part of one another's lives through the stories we tell ourselves and each other. For good and for bad.

I don't know that my colleagues in Congress really care about what happens here in El Paso and in Juarez. They care what happens in their home district.

Some will criticize the Green New Deal for being too bold or being unmanageable. I tell you what, I haven't seen anything better that addresses this singular crisis we face, a crisis that could, at its worst, lead to extinction. The Green New Deal does that. It ties it to the economy and acknowledges that all of the things are interconnected.

In terms of immigration, we're seeing a lot of Democrats and Republicans use the really elastic term, 'Comprehensive Immigration Reform,' and they don't totally understand what that means. For us in El Paso, it's part of a larger discussion about the nature of the border.

We must ensure the economy really works for all, to address unconscionable wealth and income disparities that allow access to opportunity for some over others.

Non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it, that is why they are doing it. And I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up, or take a knee, for your rights, any time, anywhere, in any place.

Reasonable people can disagree... and it makes them no less American.

This is why people don't like Washington, D.C., you just said something that I did not say and attributed it to me. This is your trick of the trade, to confuse and incite based on fear.

Weapons of war belong on the battlefield, not in our schools.

We toured the U.S. and Canada for two years, which was a lot of fun. It was very much a do-it-yourself, punk-rock ethic of booking your own shows, sometimes sleeping on the floor of the club you had played or meeting folks that would take you in, or sleeping on the side of the road or at rest stops in the car.

I think that's the beauty of elections: You can't hide from who you are. The more honestly and directly you communicate to people why you're doing this, the way in which you want to serve them, I just think that the better, more informed decision that they can make.

One overlooked great 1980s rock n' roll band, maybe punk rock - they were on SST Records, same label as Black Flag - is this band called the Leaving Trains.

What's exciting to me is figuring out something that has eluded us for so long: How do we make sure every single person can see a doctor in this country? That's really exciting to me.

I'm for the DREAM Act. It makes so much sense. Following the implementation of the DREAM Act, we'll have a case study we can point to where we can say that we provided a path to citizenship or legal involvement in the community for these young immigrants, and the sky didn't fall.

Here's what we know: after the Secure Fence Act, we have built 600 miles of wall and fencing on a 2,000 mile border. What that has done is not in any demonstrable way made us safer.

We will be judged. There will be an accounting; there will be a reckoning sooner or later. It will either come from ourselves and our own conscience, or it will come from our kids when they ask that inconvenient question: 'What were you doing when they turned those kids back from the border?'

I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up or take a knee for your rights - anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

There is no excuse for making disrespectful and demeaning comments about women.

No one is born to be president of the United States of America.