American Patriotism Quotes

• 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.

  Ronald Reagan

  Strength, Peace, Children

  Ronald Reagan (1983). “A Time for Choosing: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan, 1961-1982”, Gateway Books

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  America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Wisdom, Religious, Freedom

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• My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, correspondence and private papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by T.J. Randolph”, p.239

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• In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Firsts, Facts

  Theodore Roosevelt (1954). “Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914”

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• The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.

  Samuel Adams

  Country, Struggle, Patriotic

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• A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.

  George William Curtis

  Loyalty, Country, Memorial Day

  George William Curtis (1894). “On the principles and character of American institutions, and the duties of American citizens, 1856-1891”

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• Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.

  John Gunther

  Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic

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• These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

  Thomas Paine

  Love, Summer, Country

  The American Crisis, 19 Dec. 1776

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• America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

  Harry S. Truman

  Courage, Determination, Jobs

  Harry S. Truman (1967). “The Quotable Harry S. Truman”, Anderson, S.C. : Droke House, distributed by Grosset & Dunlap

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• 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

  Country, Freedom, 4th Of July

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream.

  Archibald MacLeish

  Dream, 4th Of July, Patriotic

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• Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

  Patrick Henry

  Death, Sweet, Freedom

  Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, Va., 23 Mar. 1775.

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• Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

  George Washington

  Memorial Day, War, 4th Of July

  George Washington (1810). “Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States”, p.17

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• He loves his country best who strives to make it best.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1952). “Life and Letters”

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• Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Country, 4th Of July, Mean

  Calvin Coolidge (1924). “Calvin Coolidge, His Ideals of Citizenship as Revealed Through His Speeches and Writings”

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  Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Peace, War

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.42, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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  If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

  Ronald Reagan

  Inspirational, God, Country

  Remarks at a Dallas Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, delivered 23 August 1984 at Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX

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• We shall pay any price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  John F. Kennedy

  Success, Memorial Day, Freedom

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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  I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

  Nathan Hale

  Inspirational, Life, Country

  Before being executed as a spy by the British, 22 September 1776, in Henry Phelps Johnston 'Nathan Hale, 1776' (1914) ch. 7.

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• Our country ... when right, to be kept right. When wrong, to be put right.

  Carl Schurz

  Country, Patriotic, Patriotism

  Speech, US Senate, 1872.

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• Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.

  Seneca the Younger

  Country, 4th Of July, Patriotic

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• For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Powerful Poems (Annotated Edition)”, p.183, Jazzybee Verlag

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  In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.

  Mark Twain

  Change, Thank You, Memorial Day

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.351, Courier Corporation

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• Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Memorial Day, Freedom

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Inspirational, Life, 4th Of July

  Abraham Lincoln, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (1950). “The Lincoln treasury”

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