American Ideals Quotes

#1. American ideals do not require to be changed so much as they require to be understood and applied.

Calvin Coolidge

#2. The discrepancy between American ideals and American practice - between our aims and what we actually do - creates a moral dry rot which eats away at the foundations of our democratic faith.

Helen Gahagan Douglas

#3. What are the American ideals? They are the development of the individual for his own and the common good; the development of the individual through liberty; and the attainment of the common good through democracy and social justice.

Louis D. Brandeis

#4. [Americans know] the traditional values of Islam, devotion to faith and good works, to family and society, are in harmony with the best of American ideals.

William J. Clinton

#5. President Reagan always gave the credit to the American people and American ideals. He treated his job as a valuable temporary loan from the American people, a loan that should be respected and returned with dutiful appreciation.

William L. Jenkins

#6. Make no mistake, in this campaign, I will offer the American ideals of economic freedom a clear and unapologetic defense.

Mitt Romney

#7. Superheroes were created in America, they're most popular in America, and at their best, they embody American ideals.

Gene Luen Yang

#8. You're not supposed to risk your life just for the physical safety of American citizens - you're supposed to risk your life for American ideals as well.

Phil Klay

#9. Feeding the poor will not eradicate poverty, but feeding the mind with true education will.

Debasish Mridha

#10. All sliced up and sealed tight in baggies. Guess love makes you do funny things.

Alice Cooper

#11. I want a love that don't mean a thing.

Elton John

#12. There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.

G.K. Chesterton

#13. I am closer to a European viewpoint of the world than an American one. My ethics and ideals are based on European concepts.

Bianca Jagger

#14. American power in the world relies on these ideals of openness and critical debate.

Joseph Nye

#15. If you're mad enough to have killed a dozen people you're mad enough to be a fraction impatient. Surely?

Sebastian Faulks

#16. We ... recognize the forces which have been trying to falsify American history - the forces which drive away many Americans to a corner of compromise with those who would distort the ideals of men that died for freedom.

Carlos Bulosan

#17. Though it's safe to say there are a whole lotta American gals who agree with the core ideals of feminism, they are somehow nevertheless watching 'Say Yes to the Dress' by the millions.

Tracy McMillan

#18. Yale is a crucible in American life for the accommodation of intellectual achievement, of wisdom, of refinement, with the democratic ideals of openness, of social justice and of equal opportunity.

Benno C. Schmidt Jr.

#19. In his book The Soul of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois writes about always feeling his twoness
an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; to warring ideals in one dark body.

Ron Suskind

#20. The ordinary American is the opposite of a cynic. He is on the average more of a believer and a defender of the faith in humanity than the rest of the Occidentals. It is a relatively important matter to him to be true to his own ideals and to carry them out in actual life.

Gunnar Myrdal

#21. I'm able to see humor in a lot of things.

Juliana Hatfield

#22. Patriotism is not 'my country right or wrong'; patriotism means loving the ideals for which America stands and having the courage to speak up when these ideals are distorted for personal or political gain. The American government was instituted to be the servant of the people, not our master.

Robert A. Heinlein

#23. But recently it seems that each time I vote, I am being asked to compromise my conservative ideals and my commitment to the American taxpayer simply for the benefit of political gain.

Jeff Miller

#24. Many who wave American flags also practice discrimination on the basis of race. Many who wave American flags practice anti-Semitism. We think that betrays the fundamental ideals of our democracy.

Billy Campbell

#25. We will continue to deepen our engagement using every element of American power - diplomacy, military, economic development, the power of our values and our ideals.

Barack Obama

#26. Nations need to constantly reaffirm their historical roots to maintain their political ideals. Motion pictures were one of the media used by nations to accommplish this task. The question one must ask is: Did the colonial films made faithfully represent the period in our nation's history?

John P. Harty Jr.

#27. The ideals of free enterprise and global leadership, central to American conservatism, are responsible for the greatest reduction in human misery since mankind began its long climb from the swamp to the stars.

Arthur C. Brooks

#28. What you are born to be, you will be, whether it be priest or sailor. So step up and be it. Let them do nothing to you. Be the one who shapes yourself. Be who you are, and eventually all will have to recognize who you are, whether they are willing to admit it or not.

Robin Hobb

#29. I guess my ideals died the hardest. It's often that way with the children of immigrants. We need to buy the dream so bad we sometimes can't wake up.

Sara Paretsky

#30. We can't live crippled by what we're scared might happen. We have to live in the moment, happy with what we have.

Kristen Ashley

#31. One ever feels his twoness,
an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strenth alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

W.E.B. Du Bois

#32. I prefer to remake flops. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake of a flop, and The Quiet American is a remake of a flop.

Michael Caine

#33. Cities can be places that represent the best of our ideals: where Americans of all different backgrounds can come together and, through their interactions, and even through their unity, spawn true American greatness.

Cory Booker