American Citizens Quotes

• My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Country

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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  The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.

  Samuel Adams

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Debates of the Massachusetts Convention, 1788.

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  I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

  George Washington

  Land, America, Atheism

  George Washington, Stephen Lucas (1999). “The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot”, p.5, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

  Jackie Robinson

  Class, Issues, Democracy

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• There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Political, Immigration

  Speech in New York, 12 October 1915, in 'Works', Memorial edition (1925) vol. 20, p. 457

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• Bad men cannot make good citizens.

  Patrick Henry

  Men, Tyrants, Citizens

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Inspiring, Women, 4th Of July

  Declaration of Sentiments, First Woman's Rights

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• A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Integrity, Responsibility, Hypocrisy

  Thomas Jefferson (2004). “Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness”, p.66, Modern Library

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• There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Presidential, Rooms

  Speech, New York, N.Y., 12 Oct. 1915

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• My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Patriotic, Heart

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• There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.

  Barack Obama

  Patriotic, America, Political

  Barack Obama (2008). “Yes, We Can”, p.47, BoD – Books on Demand

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• There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America.

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Patriotic, White

  2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, delivered 27 July 2004, Fleet Center, Boston

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• Our country is the world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity, only as we love all other lands. The interests, rights, and liberties of American citizens are no more dear to us than are those of the whole human race. Hence we can allow no appeal to patriotism, to revenge any national insult or injury.

  William Lloyd Garrison

  Country, Revenge, Rights

  William Lloyd Garrison (1852). “Selections from the writings and speeches of William Lloyd Garrison: With an appendix ...”, p.72

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• Let me say with a Georgia accent that we cannot solve this problem if it requires a diplomatic passport to claim the rights of an American citizen.

  Dean Rusk

  Rights, Citizens, Georgia

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• We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class.

  Dick Gregory

  Athlete, Class, Firsts

  "Dick Gregory, pioneering US comedian and activist, dies aged 84" by The Associated Press, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2017.

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• He doesn't like my name... Of course we couldn't all come over on the Mayflower... But I got here as soon as I could, and I never wanted to go back, because to me it is a great privilege to be an American citizen.

  Anton Cermak

  Names, Immigration, Citizens

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• When American citizens pull together, there is little we can't accomplish.

  Cory Booker

  Together, Citizens, Littles

  "A Time For Change: A New Narrative for America and her Cities" by Cory Booker, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 4, 2008.

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• With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army.

  Robert E. Lee

  Loyalty, Children, War

  Robert E. Lee, Ben Wynne (2004). “Recollections and Letters”, p.21, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• I am an Israeli-born American citizen.

  Guy Oseary

  Citizens, Born, Israeli

  "To Those Seeking Freedom in the Middle East" by Guy Oseary, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 14, 2011.

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• It bothers me that the executive branch is taking the amazing position that just on the president's say-so, any American citizen can be picked up, not just in Afghanistan, but at O'Hare Airport or on the streets of any city in this country, and locked up without access to a lawyer or court just because the government says he's connected somehow with the Taliban or Al Qaeda. That's not the American way. It's not the constitutional way.

  Laurence Tribe

  Country, America, Airports

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• It's true that most American citizens think of themselves as living in a democratic country. But when was the last time that any Americans actually sat down and came to a collective decision? Maybe if they are ordering pizzas, but basically never.

  David Graeber

  Country, Thinking, Decision

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• I did become American citizen in order to vote. I lived in this country for a very long time and I finally reached the point where I thought, I'm often sticking my neck out on various issues as all human beings have a right to do.

  Lynn Redgrave

  Country, Order, Issues

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• It hasn't been easy to find American citizens who are willing to pick fruit in 110 degree weather.

  Fareed Zakaria

  Weather, Degrees, Citizens

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• Politics is the practical exercise of the art of self-government, and somebody must attend to it if we are to have self-government; somebody must study it, and learn the art, and exercise patience and sympathy and skill to bring the multitude of opinions and wishes of self-governing people into such order that some prevailing opinion may be expressed and peaceably accepted. Otherwise, confusion will result either in dictatorship or anarchy. The principal ground of reproach against any American citizen should be that he is not a politician. Everyone ought to be, as Lincoln was.

  Elihu Root

  Art, Exercise, Self

  "Men and Policies: Addresses". Book by Elihu Root, ed. Robert Bacon and James B. Scott, p. 75, "Lincoln as a Leader of Men", 1924.

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• I'm obviously an American citizen. My parents are American citizens. But I'm not looked at as an American.

  Ana Castillo

  Parent, Citizens

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