You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn’t give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war.
—George S. Patton (1885–1945) American Military Leader
We Americans have so much potential. We just need to cultivate an environment that allows us to let go of our Cro-Magnon nationalism and start living like citizens of earth.
—Steve Pavlina (b.1971) American Motivational Speaker
A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.
—Burton Hillis (William E. Vaughan) (1915–77) American Columnist, Author
There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
—Barack Obama (b.1961) American Head of State, Academic, Politician, Author
Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
The impulse of the American woman to geld her husband and castrate her sons is very strong.
—John Steinbeck (1902–68) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Journalist
American consumers have no problem with carcinogens, but they will not purchase any product, including floor wax, that has fat in it.
—Dave Barry (b.1947) American Humorist, Columnist
We can have no “50-50” allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
The American spirit wears no political label. In service to others and yes, in sacrifice for our country, there are no Republicans; there are no Democrats; there are only Americans.
—John Kerry (b.1943) American Attorney, Politician, Diplomat
I think we Americans tend to put too high a price on unanimity, as if there were something dangerous and illegitimate about honest differences of opinion honestly expressed by honest men.
—J. William Fulbright (1905–95) American Politician
American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
—Jackie Robinson (1919–72) American Baseball Player
It is in the American tradition to stand up for one’s rights – even if the new way to stand up for one’s rights is to sit down.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the clergy.
—Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) French American Revolution General
I ask that all Americans demonstrate in their personal and public lives…the high ethical standards that are essential to good character and to the continued success of our nation.
—Bill Clinton (b.1946) American Head of State, Lawyer, Public Speaker
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
Americans are like a rich father who wishes he knew how to give his sons the hardships that made him rich.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Americans … still believe in an America where anything’s possible—they just don’t think their leaders do.
—Barack Obama (b.1961) American Head of State, Academic, Politician, Author
When there are starving people in the world, it seems wrong that so many of us Americans eat as much for entertainment as for nourishment.
—Andy Rooney (b.1919) American Writer, Humorist, TV Personality
Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
When good Americans die they go to Paris.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The American arrives in Paris with a few French phrases he has culled from a conversational guide or picked up from a friend who owns a beret.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Comedian, Radio Personality
You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Americans can eat garbage, provided you sprinkle it liberally with ketchup, mustard, chili sauce, Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, or any other condiment which destroys the original flavor of the dish.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.
—Barack Obama (b.1961) American Head of State, Academic, Politician, Author
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