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Joseph Biden

U.S. senator, D-Delaware

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"Strom knew America was changing and that there was a lot he didn't understand about that change. Much of that change challenged his long-held views, but he also saw his beloved South Carolina and the people of South Carolina changing as well, and he knew the time had come to change himself.

"But I believe the change came to him easily. I believe he welcomed it, because I watched others of his era fight that change and never ultimately change."

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"For the man who will see, time heals, time changes, and time leads him to truth.

"But only a special man like Strom would have the courage to accept it, the grace to acknowledge it and the humility in the face of lasting enmity and mistrust to pursue it until the end."

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"I think this is his last laugh, for what else could explain a Northeast liberal's presence here as the only outsider speaking here today, with the possible exception of Vice President Cheney."

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"Strom and I disagreed on the issue of civil rights and on just about every other issue. I grew to know him and I looked into his heart and I saw a man, a whole man. I tried to understand him. I learned from him, and I watched him change, oh so subtly."

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Dick Cheney

Vice president

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"Strom cared deeply about our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and he acted on that concern during his decades of service on the Armed Services Committee.

"And in this time of challenge for our country, when we have had to call upon the skill and bravery of our people in uniform, we have seen the quality force that Strom Thurmond helped to build."

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"All Americans are grateful to our military, and I know that all branches of the service are grateful to their faithful advocate from South Carolina."

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"Above all, he was a proud and brave American patriot."

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John Courson

State senator, R-Richland

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"South Carolina and Strom Thurmond have had a mutual love affair that has exceeded a century."

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"He was our champion. He represented his state well. He represented us with honor and dignity and integrity."

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Kay Patterson

State senator, D-Richland

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"It was Strom that helped to keep our historically black colleges and universities open here in South Carolina and throughout the nation.

"It was Strom that came to the assistance and aid of my constituents in active military duty as well as the veterans having problems with the Veterans Administration.

"It was Strom who helped my constituents through the bureaucratic maze of Social Security.

"It was Strom who helped my constituents with drainage and sewer projects."

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"Strom touched many lives in South Carolina and throughout the nation. He touched yours, and he surely touched mine."

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"I want to thank the Lord that Strom passed this way, because Strom was a man of integrity and honor and he helped many people."

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Bettis Rainsford

Thurmond family friend

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"One of the last times that I visited Senator Thurmond was in his room at Edgefield County Hospital, when he was clearly in a very weakened condition and barely able to move on his bed.

"As I was leaving he said to me, is there anything I can do for you? Indeed, his entire life can be summed up in two simple words: helping people."

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William Wilkins

Chief judge 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

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"Generations of South Carolinians have walked through (heaven's) gate and have been anticipating his arrival for years. But in true Strom Thurmond fashion, he delayed that journey until his work was done."

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"Strom Thurmond kept track of time not by the years that passed, but by the number of blessings they bore. And he was truly blessed."

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"Over the years, thousands and thousands of South Carolinians from all walks of life have turned to him for help, and Senator, you never let us down.

"If everyone whom Strom Thurmond has helped were to place but one rose at his grave, he would sleep beneath a wilderness of beauty."

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"Strom Thurmond is gone from sight, but he is not gone from us. And he is not gone from his beloved state.

"He lives on in his family; he lives on in the laws he passed; he lives on in the institutions he shaped; he lives on in the people he helped; he lives on in the untold thousands of lives that he touched and he lives on by that shining example he set.

"If ever there was a life to be celebrated, then his."