Quotes from Bernie Sanders

Humanity is at a crossroads. We can continue down the current path of greed, consumerism, oligarchy, poverty, war, racism, and environmental degradation. Or we can lead the world in moving in a very different direction.

One of the more profound lessons that I've learnt in politics is that everything is related to everything else. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

While it is not likely that Democrats will start winning statewide elections tomorrow in Alabama, South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, or Utah, they will never win if they don't plant a flag and start organizing. My own state of Vermont is a good example. Forty-five years ago, Vermont was one of the most Republican states in the country. Today, as a result of a lot of hard work by many people, it is one of the most progressive.

Republicans have cultivated, into a fine art, the ability to divide people up by race, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation. That's what they do. That is the essence of their politics.

Raising money from the rich is not only debilitating, it's time-consuming. While it is certainly not true for all, many wealthy contributors are arrogant and self-centered and demand a lot of time and access for the money they donate. Instead of just sending you a check, they want to talk, talk, and talk about their needs or the issues that concern them. This process drains the energy right out of you.

They are rightfully tired of turning on the television and seeing videos of unarmed blacks being shot and killed by police officers. They want criminal justice reform. They want police department reform.

At both rallies I spoke at length about the need for criminal justice reform and for ending the absurdity of the United States having more people in jail than any other country on earth.

Further, police officers must be trained to understand that lethal force is the last response, not, as is too often the case, the first response.

all killings that took place when people were in police custody or being arrested would prompt a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

tired of status quo politics and wanted real change in the world in which they were living.

Not one word about income inequality, climate change, Citizens United or student debt. That's why the Rs are so out of touch.

we are living in a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension.

52 percent of all new income generated is going to the top 1 percent.

Change will not take place without political participation.

As mayor of Burlington, I helped establish two sister-city programs. One was with the town of Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua.

As is the Vermont way, our trips were pretty low-key. No entourage. No advance people. No communications director. No security. Just Phil and me flying in coach, renting cars, and showing up for meetings—trying to get a sense of the potential support that might exist.

The wealthiest 400 Americans now earn, on average, $345 million a year, and they pay an effective tax rate of 16.6 percent.

I can today LEGALLY walk into a gun show, uh, pass the background check, and buy a dozen guns, walk out and sell them to criminal elements, who will use them for bad things.

And it is a public health issue, forcing sick individuals into public spaces where they risk spreading disease.

And while we don't guarantee health care to all, we do outspend all other countries on the planet on medical spending.

The very existence of a rapidly expanding billionaire class in the United States is a manifestation of an unjust system that promotes massive income and wealth inequality.

The very existence of billionaires is not just about who has the money and who doesn't. It is also a manifestation of a corrupt political system, in which immense power over the lives of the great mass of Americans is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people who—through campaign finance arrangements that can only be described as legalized bribery—buy control of our elections and the policies that extend from them.

In this unprecedented moment in American history, there is no more time for tinkering around the edges. It is time to reject "conventional wisdom" and "incrementalism." It is time to fundamentally rethink our adherence to the system of unfettered capitalism, and to address the unspeakable harm that system is doing to us all.

In the richest country in the history of the world, every student who has the desire and the ability should be able to go to college.