"“It’s easy to get the troops out. But what are you doing to address the problems, and what are you doing to address the problems you’re leaving behind. I would go to Iran, I would go to Syria, I would go to Saudi Arabia, I would go to Israel, and Russians and Chinese, but primarily the regional group, and say, ‘We screwed up. We screwed up. Help us solve this problem’. So now, that takes a lot of leadership to admit that we’ve made a mistake. And that is one of the primary problems with the legacy of Vietnam: that as a nation, we never admitted the moral wrong.” -- On the comparison between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. Interview."

““We don't need a minimum wage; we need a living wage. We don't have that in this country because of what they passed.”

“Chris Matthews: “Where have you been for 35 years, sir?” Mike Gravel: “Hiding under a rock for ten years because I was so disgusted.” -- On Gravel's hiatus from politics. Interview.”

““The people must be brought into the operation of government, to make the laws that affect their lives, and thereby become the fourth check in our government’s system of checks and balances.” -- Mike Gravel on the 'National Initiative'. Video.”

““You know what's worse than a soldier dying in vain? It's more soldiers dying in vain.” — On staying in Iraq. Speech.”

““Totally. I think it's abominable that they go out and do these raids, separate families. Stop and think -- all these people want to do is earn enough money to feed their families, whether they send them money back home or they bring their families here. If we made it easier for them to go back and forth on the borders, you wouldn't have this problem.”

““Hasn't it become obvious in this discussion that there has to be a reason why over the last 15 years we haven't solved this problem as a nation? Stop and think. Our unemployment level is about 4.5, and that's about as low as you can get it. So, where is the problem? We have to have people fill these jobs. They come in and fill these jobs. We call them illegal. Are they illegal? They're filling jobs that need to be done.”