Top 100 American To Quotes
#1. It's all very Italian (and decidedly un-American): to insist that doing the right thing is the most pleasurable thing, and that the act of consumption might be an act of addition rather than subtraction.
Michael Pollan
#2. Thou shalt not steal unless thou hast a majority vote in Congress ... I'm healthy; subsidized prescription drugs won't do me much good. I'd be willing to forego my prescription drugs if Congress would force some young American to mow my lawn.
Walter E. Williams
#3. It would be about as easy for an American to become a Chinaman or a Hindoo as for him to acquire an Englishness or a Frenchness or a European-ness that is more than half skin deep.
Ezra Pound
#4. And it's difficult for the average American to understand why something like that could be so important and why a little small place like Taiwan would be so important to the PRC.
Fred Thompson
#5. Some guy refuses to fight and we call that the sin, but he's standing up for what he believes in and that seems pretty damned American to me.
Iris Dement
#6. Forcing school children to recite a national pledge doesn't sound very American to me," said James. "No," agreed Holmes. "It sounds German. Very German.
Dan Simmons
#7. The idea that I hear from the right wing in the last few decades, is that any sort of sacrifice is an affront to my liberty as an American to be a pig the way I want to.
Bill Maher
#8. It's American to be from somewhere else, and it's American to go from East to West. It's American to seek your fortune someplace other than where you are, or to be escaping something ...
Carol Emshwiller
#9. The British audience was very important to me. I have always looked away from American to non-American audiences and so this was important.
Robert Sheckley
#10. Abandon ideology. It's time for every American to think for themselves about the financial, social and political issues that will shape our future.
Richard L. DeProspo
#11. It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor.
Kurt Vonnegut
#12. I hope that the opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will be a life-altering experience that inspires every American to rededicate themselves to the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream.
Yvette Clarke
#13. It is hard as an American to support the failure of American military operations in Iraq. Such failure will bring with it the death and wounding of many American service members, and many more Iraqis.
Scott Ritter
#14. I strongly oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We must stand for the right of every American to practice their faith according to the dictates of their conscience, whether it be in the public square or in the workplace.
Mike Pence
#15. Censorship does not interfere with the constitutional rights of every American to sit alone in a dark room in the nude and cuss.
Pat Paulsen
#16. It was hard for an American to understand the contented acceptance by English men and women of permanent places in the lowest social rank.
Virginia Gildersleeve
#17. Innocence is a pretty dangerous thing, you know. Revisit Dostoevsky's 'The Idiot' or, for that matter, Greene's 'The Quiet American' to find out how destructive it can be.
Neel Mukherjee
#18. To me, I was right from the beginning, because it's my right as an American to speak up and question our president, have my point of view, have my opinion, question what I want to question, and say what I want to say about our government.
Natalie Maines
#19. How many of you think it is time for American to stop pretending we are not Christian? If there's people in King, North Carolina who don't like that, there's lots of places you can move to.
David Gene Gibbs
#20. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it.
Pete Seeger
#21. It is no longer appropriate for me as an American to sit by and expect my government to get it done.
LeVar Burton
#22. I'm American to the core. So please forgive me if I say some foolish things when I'm overseas. It's my birthright." The Best Way--El Camino de Santiago (2012)
Bill Walker
#23. Republican voters believe we should have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest. They don't believe we should enter into - commit the United States to further globalist policies that diminish the sovereignty and freedom of American to act in its own interest.
Jeff Sessions
#24. As an American man of the 1990s writing about a Japanese woman of the 1930s, I needed to cross three cultural divides - man to woman, American to Japanese, and present to past.
Arthur Golden
#25. When I was growing up, Brandy was TV star, reality star, a pop star, a Cover girl, Grammy winner, had her own Brandy doll, and was the first African American to play Disney princess Cinderella. Most importantly, she is a survivor. Many only judge and remember a person's most recent failure.
Niecy Nash
#26. Besides, it's my God-given right as an American to speak my mind and fill others' ears with my thoughts, my opinions, my innermost feelings, and my repressed childhood memories.
Tim Anderson
#27. Religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief.
George Pataki
#28. For an American to be patriotic is to be loyal to the principles of our Constitution, and the First Amendment. The truth is that the policies of the government is sometimes in conflict with that. In our country, patriotism should not be defined as obedience to an authority.
Daniel Ellsberg
#30. The numbing lists of things you were supposed to have as an American to make you happy, which ultimately, of course, don't. Those aren't the things that make you happy.
Bret Easton Ellis
#31. It's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally.
Lindsey Graham
#32. I am a freestyle mogul skier who, on February 13, became the first American to win a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Hannah Kearney
#33. So far from thinking that a slaveholder is bound by the immoral and unconstitutional laws of the Southern States, we hold thathe is solemnly bound as a man, as an American, to break them, and that immediately and openly ...
Angelina Grimke
#34. If you can take advantage of a situation in some way, it's your duty as an American to do it.
John Swartzwelder
#35. Save among politicians it is no longer necessary for any educated American to profess belief in Thirteenth Century ideas
H.L. Mencken
#36. The tough-minded ... respect difference. Their goal is a world made safe for differences, where the United States may be American to the hilt without threatening the peace of the world, and France may be France, and Japan may be Japan on the same conditions.
Ruth Benedict
#37. Think of anything, of cowboys, of movies, of detective stories, of anybody who goes anywhere or stays at home and is an American and you will realize that it is something strictly American to conceive a space that is filled with moving.
Gertrude Stein
#38. Once enough Americans reacquaint themselves with Americanism, we should promote it to all countries just as the Left promotes leftism and Muslims promote Islam. One need not be American to affirm Americanism.
Dennis Prager
#39. You don't have to be African American to really enjoy 'Frisky Business'. But as far as being black, a lot of people in New York have been stopped and frisked, so that hits home for them.
Jessica Williams
#40. No one had to order an American to save the oppressed. It's part of their nature to see others live free, even at the sacrifice of their own lives.
Richard Fox
#41. We were from totally different social backgrounds. This is what is very hard for an American to understand, but we could have been five guys from Mars.
Bill Bruford
#42. I think it's important if you're American to have a second language, and Spanish is the language to have.
Thalia
#43. The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.
Jackie Robinson
#44. Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.
Bobby McFerrin
#45. I have spent almost my entire adult life fighting to defend the religious liberty of every American to follow his or her faith and live according to his conscience.
Ted Cruz
#46. Newt Gingrich wants to build a colony on the Moon. OK, you say, but why? Well, he wants to be the first American to get divorced on the Moon.
David Letterman
#47. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday - it's a day that's American to the core and it's a day that's all about what and how we eat.
Marcus Samuelsson
#48. It is actually costlier to hire an immigrant. And yet the farm worker is almost invariably an immigrant. You can't pay an American to pick blueberries.
Trey Gowdy
#49. I don't really know how it feels for an American to go to Mexico, but if you come from Germany, Mexico is a really exotic place. It has this laid back vibe, at least in the countryside, and things don't seem to be as over-civilized as they are here in Europe.
Apparat
#50. America?" said Gamesh, smiling. "Roland, what's American to you? Or me, or those tens of thousands up in the the stands? It's just a word they use to keep your nose to the grindstone and your toes to the line. America is the opiate of the people.
Philip Roth
#51. Since Americans are by nature individualistic and entrepreneurial, by definition, then, the socialist program is anti-American, to say nothing of totalitarian. Socialism is an old dream. Some dreams are nightmares when put into practice.
Ben Carson
#52. I am not asking you as a white person to see yourself as an enslaver. I'm asking you as an American to see all of the freedoms that you enjoy and see how they are rooted in things that the country you belong to condoned or actively participated in the past.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
#53. I did want to mark the fact that it was the first African-American to win the Lead Actress category.I thought it was so progressive.
Viola Davis
#54. For me going down in history being the first black American to win the gold, I think more colored people are going to start coming to the gymnastics world and say 'okay, anything is possible. If Gabby did it, then I can do it too.'
Gabby Douglas
#55. I would encourage every American to walk as often as possible. It's more than healthy; it's fun.
John F. Kennedy
#56. More than ever I'm proud to be an American, to live in a country that respects the rights of all to marry whomever they love. The Supreme Court decision gives new meaning to the freedoms we cherish.
Ralph Lauren
#58. If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed,
Thomas Jefferson
#59. I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote,
Colin Powell
#60. I believe that it is my right and responsibility as an American to question our government when our government is wrong.
Cindy Sheehan
#61. It was practically un-American to not set goals and then do everything you could, everything, to reach them. Quitting-it was a dirty word ...
Deb Caletti
#62. Minnie Spotted Wolf from Butte, Montana, was the first Native American to enlist in the Marine Corps Womens' Reserve. Spotted Wolf joined in 1943. She commented that Marine Corps boot camp was "hard, but not that hard.
Tom Holm
#63. Now, when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully constituted.
Jules Verne
#64. Let's be careful when we start comparing American to European tolerance because there isn't necessarily a lot of European tolerance.
Montel Williams
#65. Inflation is not all bad. After all, it has allowed every American to live in a more expensive neighborhood without moving.
Alan Cranston
#66. I want every American to be free to stand up for his rights, even if sometimes he has to sit down for them.
John F. Kennedy
#67. I recall a lecture by John Glenn, the first American to go into orbit. When asked what went through his mind while he was crouched in the rocket nose-cone, awaiting blast-off, he replied, "I was thinking that the rocket has 20,000 components, and each was made by the lowest bidder."
Martin Rees
#68. It's daunting trying to do any service as an American to such a beautiful, fluid speech pattern that you [British] all have. We are just barbarians in comparison.
Jake Gyllenhaal
#69. I got a bronze medal and I can't complain about that, the only African-American to get a medal in the Winter Olympics.
Debi Thomas
#70. Once the war against Saddam begins, we expect every American to support our military, and if they can't do that, to shut Up.
Bill O'Reilly
#71. It was typical of the American to identify the one unfinished strand.
Davis Bunn
#72. Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue of his being, Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation.
John Ridley
#73. Most of what Congress does fits the description of forcing one American to serve the purposes of another American. That description differs only in degree, but not in kind, from slavery.
Walter E. Williams
#74. Mrs. Nixon and I share the sorrow of millions of Americans at the death of Louis Armstrong. One of the architects of an American art form, a free and individual spirit, and an artist of worldwide fame, his great talents and magnificent spirit added richness and pleasure to all our lives.
Richard M. Nixon
#75. I believe in the support of the public school as one of the cornerstones of American liberty. I believe in the right of every parent to choose whether his child shall be educated in the public school or in a religious school supported by those of his own faith.
Al Smith
#76. 'American Playhouse' is very supportive of writers. That's really why writers like to write for 'American Playhouse' for very little money. They care about making your play, your script, not some network production. We're treated like playwrights, not like fodder for some machine.
Terrence McNally
#77. The problem that has no name-which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities-is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.
Betty Friedan
#78. At the time the world was all upside down. The American people were beginning to move around a lot. The old hometown ties had been pretty much broken. The theme of Farmer Takes a Wife appealed to people. Everybody was homesick. And it sold and sold and sold.
John Gould
#79. The average American child, by age eighteen, is estimated to have seen eighteen thousand murders and two hundred thousand acts of violence on television. The "death play" of popular video games is accelerating these numbers to ever-higher levels.
Richard J. Borden
#80. Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people.
Howard Zinn
#82. I'd love to talk to Janeane Garafalo or Randi Rhodes or Stephanie Miller from Air America. I'm an Air American junkie; I listen to them every day.
Henry Rollins
#83. Today, if you're an American business, you actually get a benefit for going overseas. You get to defer your taxes. So if you're looking at a competitive world, you say to yourself, "Hey, I do better overseas than I do here in America."
John F. Kerry
#84. never to ask a Lapp how many reindeer he had. Such a question, he said, would be as tactless as to ask an American how large a bank balance he carries.
Carveth Wells
#85. There are some Chicanos who don't want to be Chicanos - they want to be Mexican-American, Hispanic, or even Spanish.
Cheech Marin
#86. If you listen closely to the voices of our veterans, you understand that yes, they all returned from war changed, but what never changed is this: They never forgot your generosity. They never forgot the power of opportunity. They never forgot the American dream.
Michael Mullen
#87. The Obama administration and the Democratic Congress have taken the biggest lurch to the left in policy in American history. There've been no - no Congress, no administration that has run this far to the left in such a small period of time. And there is a reaction to that.
Haley Barbour
#88. Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?
Sean Hannity
#89. There's an enormous amount of corruption, and as one American adviser put it to me, "The police in Afghanistan are thugs. We equip them, we train them, and now they are equipped and trained thugs."
Jeff Merkley
#90. From 1783 at the end of the American Revolution to 1861, the number of slaves in the United States increased five times over, and all this expansion produced a powerful nation.
Edward E. Baptist
#91. Lion Capital also nominated one of its founding partners, Lyndon Lea, to American Apparel's board in place of another nominee, Gene Montesano, the founder of Lucky Brand Jeans, whose name the hedge fund is withdrawing.
Anonymous
#92. I had been an activist on the issue of HIV, primarily in the African American and Latino communities here in the U.S. for many years. It was horrifying to me how the pandemic was raging right here in this country but no one was talking about it.
Gloria Reuben
#93. Is it possible for white America to really understand blacks' distrust of the legal system, their fears of racial profiling and the police, without understanding how cheap a black life was for so long a time in our nation's history?
Philip Dray
#94. All privileges based on wealth, and all emnity to honest men merely because they are wealthy, are un-American.
Theodore Roosevelt
#95. We're trying to infuse a little good into the American culture. Love God, love your neighbor, hunt ducks. Raise your kids, make them behave, love them. I don't see the down side to that.
Phil Robertson
#96. I think I would rather be a man than a god. We don't need anyone to believe in us. We just keep going anyhow. It's what we do.
Neil Gaiman
#97. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give to an American.
Edward Snowden
#98. 'Revelations' is one of the most important pieces to the African American arts. It assesses the hope and despair of a people and overcoming the struggle with our faith.
Robert Battle
#99. There is something in the American character, traditionally, that yearns to see the status quo kicked in the ass.
Alec Cizak
#100. In order to approximate dinosaurian physiology, the trio of scientists carried out the unenviable task of sticking thermometers in the cloacae of American alligators.
Brian Switek
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