Fourth of July Quotes

“America is another name for opportunity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
—President Harry S. Truman

"America is a tune. It must be sung together.”
—Gerald Stanley Lee

"Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country."
—Sinclair Lewis

“Laughter is America’s most important export."
—Walt Disney

“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
—Patrick Henry

"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."
—President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice!"
—President Dwight D. Eisenhower

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
—Edward Abbey

"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."
—William Faulkner

“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
—President George Washington

“Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.”
—Kahlil Gibran

"America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens."
—President George W. Bush

"Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country."
—Marquis de Lafayette

“We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.”
—President Barack Obama

“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.”
—Albert Camus

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
—President George Washington

“The essence of America — that which really unites us — is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion — it is an idea — and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going.”
—Condoleezza Rice

“The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.”
—Carson McCullers

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.”
—Mark Twain

"I'd like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted other people to be also free."
—Rosa Parks

“Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.”
—Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
—United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.”
—Clarence Darrow

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
—President James Madison

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
—Voltaire

“Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.”
—President Woodrow Wilson

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
—President John F. Kennedy

“You cannot conquer America."
—William Pitt

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
—President Abraham Lincoln

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
—President Theodore Roosevelt

“I venture to suggest that patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
—Adlai E. Stevenson

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
—Thomas Jefferson

“So, let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look over not only ourselves, but each other.”
—President Barack Obama

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves”
—President Abraham Lincoln

“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.”
—President Barack Obama

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
—Benjamin Franklin

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
—President Bill Clinton

"Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free."
—President Dwight D. Eisenhower

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
—Nelson Mandela

"Our constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years but all the time. So let's do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all hold dear; making our economy work for everyone not just those at the top, protecting our country and protecting our planet and breaking down all the barriers that hold any American back from achieving their dreams.”
—Hillary Rodham Clinton

“America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact — the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality.”
—Adlai E. Stevenson

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
—President Theodore Roosevelt

“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.”
—President Jimmy Carter

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
—President Thomas Jefferson

“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.”
—President John F. Kennedy

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
—President Ronald Reagan

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
—Samuel Adams

“To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism.”
—G. Edward Griffin

“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.”
—President Thomas Jefferson