Biden: "Today We Lost a Truly Remarkable Man"
"Today we lost a truly remarkable man," Biden added. "To paraphrase Shakespeare, I don't think we shall ever see his like again. I think the legacy he left was not just with the landmark legislation he passed but in how he helped people look at themselves and look at one another."
"My wife, Jill, and my sons, Beau and Hunter, and my daughter, Ashley -- and I don't say that lightly because they all knew Teddy. He did something personal and special for each one of them in their lives -- truly, truly are distressed by his passing," Biden added.
The vice president was holding back tears as he made the remarks at the Energy Department. He was previously scheduled to make remarks about the administration's energy policy alongside Energy Secretary Steven Chu, but instead devoted much of his speech to Kennedy.
Biden paid a very personal tribute to Kennedy for helping his first Senate campaign in 1972, saying that he "literally would not be standing here were it not for Teddy Kennedy."
"From 1972, as a 29-year-old kid with three weeks left to go in a campaign, him showing up at the Delaware Armory in the middle of what we call Little Italy, would never vote nationally for a Democrat, I won by 3,100 votes and got 85 percent of the vote in that district or something to that effect," Biden said.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy
He talked about sitting side-by-side with Kennedy over 36 years together in the Senate.
"For 36 years, I had the privilege of going to work every day and literally -- not figuratively -- sitting next to him and being a witness to history every single day the Senate was in session," Biden said.
And Biden also lauded Kennedy's accomplishments in the Senate, noting how he was embraced by Senators on both sides of the aisle.
"Don't you find it remarkable that one of the most partisan, liberal men in the last century serving in the Senate had so many of his -- so many of his foes embrace him because they know he made them bigger? He made them more graceful by the way in which he conducted himself," Biden said.
Watch video of Biden below:
Read more on the life and death of Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy:
Obituary: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Dies at 77
Reaction from Around the Country and the World
Excerpts of Famous Kennedy Speeches
U.S. Newspaper Obituaries
Kennedy's Career Forced in Public's Glare
No Immediate Action on Succession
Photo Gallery: Ted Kennedy
Katie Couric Reports On Kennedy's Life
CBS News Special Tonight at 8 p.m. ET: "The Last Brother"
CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy