Patriotic Quotations | Page 2

Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.

I don't want the news to be patriotic. I don't want to see flags on the lapels of the anchors. I don't want any of that.

It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear...

You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

In these times of the 'Great Recession', we shouldn't be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes, I don't. I find it patriotic.

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

There are millions and millions of patriotic Muslim Americans.

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

The fact is, with every friendship you make, and every bond of trust you establish, you are shaping the image of America projected to the rest of the world. That is so important. So when you study abroad, you're actually helping to make America stronger.

There will be trying times during Obama's presidency, and liberty will need staunch defenders. Can Obama reshape liberalism to be, as it was under F.D.R., a fighting faith, unapologetically patriotic and strong in the defense of liberty? That would be a service to our country.

Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.

Among the other values children should be taught are respect for others, beginning with the child's own parents and family; respect for the symbols of faith and the patriotic beliefs of others; respect for law and order; respect for the property of others; respect for authority.

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people of the world.

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.

Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

Mutual forbearance and reciprocal concessions: thro' their agency the Union was established - the patriotic spirit from which they emanated will forever sustain it.

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency.

America is a Nation with a mission - and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace - a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.

A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.

To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.

The United States is a proud, determined, hard-working, talented, patriotic nation and people, and it is not over-extended in the manner of empires of the past that took over the lands of others and eventually collapsed under the weight of the over-ambitious hegemon.

Let me say this as clearly as I can: No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents.

Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.

I could, as a free man, look across the bay toward the Eastern Shore where I was born a slave.

Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!

I want every child in America to eat a nutritious, delicious, sustainably sourced school lunch for free.

I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not a fool, which is a matter of no small difficulty.

We Canadians are not given as a people to great patriotic displays.

They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

There is no patriotic obligation to help advance the career of a politician who is otherwise pursuing interests that are fundamentally antithetical to your values. That's not the call of patriotism.

Our people have proven their desire for continuing with reforms. We complete the march today with those who have an honest patriotic desire for more progress and reform.

The 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.

Of course, Americans have no monopoly of patriotic enthusiasm and good faith.

It's the quality of the ordinary, the straight, the square, that accounts for the great stability and success of our nation. It's a quality to be proud of. But it's a quality that many people seem to have neglected.

The magic of America is that we're a free and open society with a mixed population. Part of our security is our freedom.

It's one thing I like about America - they respect the sportsman. They put them up on a pedestal. They don't try to knock them down. And that's a great thing, to be respected by the whole country. It's so patriotic!

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.

It is not patriotic to decide to destroy a new president who was duly elected by an overwhelming margin. It is un-patriotic to resolve to destroy that presidency.

One of the great attractions of patriotism - it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

If your neighbor has a completely different view on abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, all of those things, you still are both Americans. Neither one of you is necessarily more patriotic than the other. Neither loves their country any more than the other one does.

When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web... Now even my cat has its own page.

I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?

I will always vote what I have promised, and always vote the Constitution, as well as I will not vote for one single penny that isn't paid for, because debt is the monster, debt is what's going to eat us up and that is why our economy is on the brink.

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not.

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom 'to' and freedom 'from.'

Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

I was born in the city's general hospital on November 15, 1930, and we lived at 31 Amherst Avenue in the western suburbs. It was a magical place. There were receptions at the French Club, race meetings at the Shanghai Racecourse, and various patriotic gatherings at the British Embassy on the Bund, the city's glamorous waterfront area.

An American tragedy in which we all have played a part.

We don't want an America that is closed to the world. What we want is a world that is open to America.

I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming.

The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

We are not the sum of our possessions.

At every crisis in one's life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them.

A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country.

It's a very good question, very direct, and I'm not going to answer it.

Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.

Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful.

We must teach our children to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons.

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose.

I really believe at the end of the day, regardless of how noble you are or how patriotic the film might be, it has to serve as entertainment in order for your audiences to come into the theatre and watch it. Otherwise, audiences will wait and see it a few months later when it is premiered on television.

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

All of us should have free choice when it comes to patriotic displays... a government wisely acting within its bounds will earn loyalty and respect from its citizens. A government dare not demand the same.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'