[Ecis2023]
- MatthewDusQues
Penn Book has been asked to write about what it means to be an American. As the Presidential election draws near, this is a timely question with many different answers and perspectives. Penn Book would like to share What does it mean to be an American quotes from famous Americans who have spoken on this topic in one way or another.
You are reading: Best What Does It Mean To Be An American Quotes 2022
What Does It Mean To Be An American Quotes 2022
Becoming American means following the rules. It means respecting your neighbors, in your own neighborhood. —Francine Sharp, 73, retired teacher in Kansas (born in Kansas)
If you work hard, you get good things in life. —José, college student/roofer; immigrant without legal status in Tulsa, Oklahoma (born in Mexico)’
Precisely because we are not a people held together by blood, no one knows who an American is except by what they believe. It’s important that we do know our history because our history is the source of our Americanness. —Historian Gordon Wood
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
When people wrote ‘All men are created equal,’ they really meant men; but they didn’t mean any other men except white men who owned land. That’s what they meant. But because the ideas are powerful, there’s no way that they could get away with holding to that.
It’s not possible when you have an idea that’s as powerful and as revolutionary as a country founded on the idea that just because you’re in the world, just because you’re here, you have a right to certain things that are common to all humanity. That’s really what we say in those documents.
The idea that we begin the Constitution with, ‘We, the People’ . . . even though they didn’t mean me! They had no idea I’d ever want to make a claim on that. And they’d have been horrified if they’d known that any of us would. But you can’t let that powerful an idea out into the world without consequences. —Writer Rosemary Bray
Being American is making a change and making good changes. Being American is being welcomed, being caring about other people, being proud of the country. And it’s forgiveness. It’s not holding grudges on anything—I mean, where’s that going to get you? —Natalie Villafranca, 14, in Texas (born in Dallas)
Being American means protection by the law. Anyone can say whatever they want and, even if I don’t agree with them, they’re still protected by the law it’s my job to enforce. That’s their freedom. That’s their right. —Sean Larkin, 40, a sergeant with Tulsa Police Department’s gang unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma (born in Virginia)
Being American is red, white, and blue and being free. It doesn’t matter what language you speak; if you’re born in America, you’re still American. No matter what you look like, no matter what. —Sebastien de la Cruz, 12, student who gained attention, and backlash, when he sang the national anthem during the 2013 NBA finals in a mariachi outfit (born and lives in San Antonio)
The American Dream has no meaning for me. What it was founded on, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in many ways I feel are used as billy clubs against minorities and cultural minorities, whether they be gay, or different in any way from the norm in this country.
I, for example, don’t think I’d like to go to California because of what I look like. I could be pulled over and carded, and I would have to prove my ancestry. And look how long my family has been in northern New Mexico. Ten to twelve generations! —Vicente Martinez
We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty. – Author Mark Twain
I want all girls, especially girls of color, to know that they can be a part of science. And more than that, they can be leaders in science. I want them to know that because I know that I am America. That I am science. I’m just the part that people refuse to recognize. —Taylor R., 13, speaking about her ambitions at the March for Science in April 2017
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There is much more to being a patriot and a citizen than reciting the pledge or raising a flag. – Wrestler, Actor and former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura
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This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. – World War II Director of the United States Office of War Information Elmer Davis
Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory. – United States Army General George S. Patton
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. – Author Edward Abbey
Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it. – Author Mark Twain
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit. – President Theodore Roosevelt
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. – Founding Father Samuel Adams
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Founding Father Benjamin Franklin
This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. – President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
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, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. – President Ronald Reagan
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. – American Revolutionary Soldier Nathan Hale
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. – President Barack Obama
We are all the sons or daughters of immigrants – some more recent than others – but all dedicated to the triumph of an idea that serves as the touchstone of what it means to be an American. This America is the only America that we have hitherto known – if being conservative has anything to do with conserving the principles of our past, then no conservative has any business bashing legal immigration. – Jack Kemp
We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots. – Writer Charles F. Browne
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! – Founding Father Patrick Henry
America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. – Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson
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I’m interested in what it means to be an American. I’m interested in what it means to live in America. I’m interested in the kind of country that we live in and leave our kids. I’m interested in trying to define what that country is. – Bruce Springsteen
And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do. – Ronald Reagan
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. – President Bill Clinton
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 in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. – President John F. Kennedy
Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner unless you eat some of what’s on that plate. – Malcolm X
The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people’s hands, that is, to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and in the courts of justice. – President John Adams
What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ‘to’ and freedom ‘from. – Writer Marilyn Vos Savant
Number one, we need to get in shape, number two we need to shoot, number three, we need to learn self-defense, and number four, we need to study small-unit tactics… If you do not have 5,000 rounds of .223, 5,000 rounds of .22, and 1,000 rounds of handgun ammo, as a MINIMUM, you’re wrong. We need to train our families how to shoot as well.
We need to get food. We need to have a year’s supply of food, two years supply of seeds, we need to have a year’s supply of sundry items. That’s what it means to be an American. We prepare for the worst but hope for the best. – Matt Shea
Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. – President John Quincy Adams
It’s certainly not too late to change to the winning side. But you know, you also have the freedom to stay just where you are. That’s what it means to be an American. That’s the miracle of America. Freedom to believe means the freedom to believe the wrong thing, after all. Just as freedom of speech gives you the right to stay silent. – Neil Gaiman
Our example – and commitment – to freedom has changed the world. But along with the genius of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, is the equal genius of our economic system.
Our Founding Fathers endeavored to create a moral and just society like no other in history, and out of that grew a moral and just economic system the likes of which the world had never seen. Our freedom, what it means to be an American, has been defined and sustained by the liberating power of the free enterprise system. – Mitt Romney
Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American. – William J. Clinton
And this President wakes up every morning, looks out across America, and is proud to announce, ‘It could be worse.’ It could be worse? Is that what it means to be an American? It could be worse? Of course not. What defines us as Americans is our unwavering conviction that we know it must be better. – Mitt Romney
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