Martin Luther King, Jr., in his letter from Birmingham City Jail, wrote that he was coming to the conclusion that the people of ill will in our society were making a much better use of time than the people of good will. And he feared that we would regret not just for the vitriolic words and deeds of bad people but for the appalling silence of good people. ...

We don't need to make this country great again. This country is great. ...Our challenge is making the greatness of this country accessible and affordable for all. ...Joe Biden and I used to spend a lot of time doing TV stuff together. We got to know each other. I know Joe. We know Joe. But most importantly, Joe knows us. That's important.

Everybody think about Brown v. Board of Education. It may have started here in South Carolina, but ...[there were] five cases. One was from South Carolina; one was from Virginia; one's from District of Columbia; one was from Kansas; but the fifth case was from Delaware. We have discussed, thoroughly, Gebhart. The Gebhart case from Delaware and the Briggs case from South Carolina. That's how well I know this man. I know his heart. I know who he is. I know what he is.... As I stand before you today, I am fearful of the future of this country. I am fearful for my daughters, and their future, and their children, and their children’s future. This country is at an inflection point. It is time for us to restore this country's dignity, this country's respect. That is what is at stake this year, ... I can think of no one with the integrity, no one more committed to the fundamental principles that make this country what it is, than my good friend, my late wife's great friend, Joe Biden.

—Congressman James Clyburne of South Carolina, from his televised endorsement of Joe Biden, then running for the Democratic party nomination