Good American Quotes

#1. I wanted to be what my high-school civics and history teacher thought of as a good American. That automatically involved taking an interest in government.

Olivia De Havilland

#2. The true history of Vietnamese civilian suffering does not fit comfortably into America's preferred postwar narrative - the tale of a conflict nobly fought by responsible commanders and good American boys, who should not be tainted by the occasional mistakes of a few 'bad apples' in their midst.

Nick Turse

#3. I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.

George Carlin

#4. From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all those aspects to be part of American cultural myth and thus they figure into good American poetry, whether the poet is aware of what he is doing or not.

Diane Wakoski

#5. I find respect for a mediocre British composer, as opposed to a really good American, ridiculous because they automatically respect a composer if he's from England.

John Corigliano

#6. Like a good American, I wanted to sue somebody. But like a good librarian, I just sat at my desk and waited.

Rebecca Makkai

#7. Burn my Flag and I will shoot you ... but I'll shoot you with a lot of love, like a good American

Johnny Cash

#8. I know there are some good American police. But I grew up in a country where we were afraid of the police.

Peter Sis

#9. Never lose your faith in the American Dream. She's a nation under God, and God has never let a good American down.

Michael Moriarty

#10. I do love my country. I don't think I'm particularly a good American. I don't know what makes a good American. Other than somebody who - I like people who let other people alone. I think that's a pretty good American. And I keep my hands to myself. So I'm an OK American.

Stephen Colbert

#11. So he started writing these novels set in Small Town Georgia about folks with Good American Values who Fall in Love and then contract Life-Threatening Diseases and Die. I'm

Stephanie Perkins

#12. We're looking at ideas to remodel Arrowhead Stadium. It's 30 years old and it's not a good American soccer stadium. We're looking at ways to improve Arrowhead-which is oriented for NFL games
for our spectators.

Lamar Hunt

#13. I was too prissy, too refined, too abstemious, too French to be a good American writer.

Edmund White

#14. All good American literature is always interested in people who are ambiguously heroic, like Gatsby.

John Green

#15. I have always thought that being a good American is appreciating the world, not just your own country.

Johnny Weir

#16. I'd say the majority of my friends are Australians, although I have some good American friends, but I think with Aussies, we just get it. We don't take each other too seriously, which is a relief.

Bella Heathcote

#17. I made, over the years in Cambridge, several very good American friends, and America appeared to me, a land of promise in every sense of that word, a land of freedom from the inhibitions and restrictions that I felt in England.

Peter Shaffer

#18. Dad, as a good American, believed his newspapers.

Upton Sinclair

#19. We're trying to build a platform utilizing the Internet that allows the good American people to speak out about their frustration about the polarized country that we live in politically.

Hamilton Jordan

#20. To be free ... to walk the good American earth as equal citizens, to live without fear, to enjoy the fruits of our toil, to give our children every opportunity in life
that dream which we have held so long in our hearts is today the destiny that we hold in our hands.

Paul Robeson

#21. A good American makes propaganda for whatever existence has forced him to become.

Saul Bellow

#22. The only good Indian is a dead Indian

William Tecumseh Sherman

#23. 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

#24. 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

#25. I'm Native American, so it's in my blood to always want brothers and friends. I'm a good brotherhood guy.

Duane Chapman

#26. I began thinking there should be an American phrase book, 'cause I've got an Italian phrase book, and an Arabic one ... now a British one. I think it'd be pretty good to have an American phrase book.

Joe Strummer

#27. The jobs crisis has reached a boiling point, which is why we see Occupy Wall Street protestors crying out for an America that lets all of us reach for the American Dream again - a dream that says if you work hard and play by the rules, you can have a good life and retire with dignity.

John Garamendi

#28. I've been working with good directors - the Wachowski brothers, Spike Lee, Terry Gilliam, Mel Gibson ... I love American movies, but I love European movies, too, and I want to do both.

Monica Bellucci

#29. American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.

Gary Shteyngart

#30. Things are pretty good in Canada. We weathered the recession fairly well. And, of course, were up here up living here, we're watching American news and we're constantly saying, wow, it's not as bad as it is in the United States.

Rick Mercer

#31. Mention the name George W. Bush in mixed company, and you're likely to spark a lot of debate and emotion - hot and cold, good and bad. Not a lot of neutral reaction. He was elected in the most controversial contest in American electoral history and governed during one of the most tumultuous decades.

Mark McKinnon

#32. American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.

Gore Vidal

#33. Strangely enough, 'I've Seen All Good People' is, I think, the second most played Yes song on American radio after 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart.' And then I think 'Roundabout' is third.

Chris Squire

#34. The 20th-century ulcer epidemic was a sign of good health in American people - good diet, strong acidity and healthy immune response actually make ulcers more likely. That's why businessmen eating giant T-bone steaks were prone to ulcers.

Barry Marshall

#35. The lesser of two evils, or the least of the worst, is not good enough for the American people anymore.

Ralph Nader

#36. The major rule in the American belief system - that anyone can do anything ... is a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.

M.J. Ryan

#37. Through good times and bad, American workers and their families have been able to rely on Social Security to provide guaranteed protection against the loss of earnings due to retirement, disability, or death.

Sander Levin

#38. The Englishman wants to be recognized as a gentleman, or as some other suitable species of human being, the American wants to be considered a good guy.

Louis Kronenberger

#39. I want my kids to know that they're just as good and just as American as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or Dr. Martin Luther King. My worst fear is they will become ordinary.

Rafe Esquith

#40. The good and bad are all tangled up together. American popular music is loved around the world because of its African rhythm. But that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for slavery.

Pete Seeger

#41. Who would want to buy a good car when you can buy an American car?

Bob Packwood

#42. A good debater can be a good communicator. You have to communicate when you're president of the United States, and communicate effectively with the American people, and with the world.

Dan Quayle

#43. You have to believe in its principles. Anything is possible, as long as it's for the good of the world. Make the exception. Live exceptionally. And if you can't do that, maybe we should consider whether you're right for the project. Think about it, then let's talk tomorrow.

Amy Tan

#44. When the sun died, I went up to heaven and saw God and all the people who had died a long time ago. God told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and love one another, and not fight, or steal, or lie. He gave me this dance to give to my people.

Wovoka

#45. The most heinous shift in American films is that they reinforce good things like 'couples' and 'relationships.'

Alexander Payne

#46. Henry James said there isn't any difference between "the English novel" and "the American novel" since there are only two kinds of novels at all, the good and the bad.

Eudora Welty

#47. Be careful of living your life based only on faith and signs, or you might find yourself standing in a South American jungle holding a glass of Kool-aid. Commonsense is the foundation of any good testimony.

Shannon L. Alder

#48. It is good for a student to be poor. Getting and spending, the typical American college student lays waste his powers. Work and contemplation don't mix, and university days ought to be days of contemplation.

Russell Kirk

#49. I have good genes. My father is Danish and my mother is Irish and Native American. They both have good skin.

Virginia Madsen

#50. I think that American people really know how to pursue fun, they really know how to have a good time. Japanese are somewhat more reserved than Americans, so I'm jealous.

Nobuo Uematsu

#51. Antislavery idealists might prefer to live in some better world, which like all such places was too good to be true. The American nation in 1790, however, was a real world, laden with legacies like slavery, and therefore too true to be good.

Joseph J. Ellis

#52. I think the Americans are the only people who have good beds. I consider the American bedroom unparalleled for freshness, comfort, and cleanliness. It is worth going all over Europe in order to come home to one's own bed.

M. E. W. Sherwood

#53. It is an honor to open in New York City and to have the opportunity to serve and share our family's version of American Chinese food and hospitality. New York City deeply influenced my passion for food and service, and it feels good to be back.

Andrew Cherng

#54. It's a completely powerful and serious book, as good as anything in prose or poetry written by a 'beat' writer, and one of the most alive books written by any American for years. I don't see how it could be considered immoral.

Robert Lowell

#55. The science fair has long been a favorite educational tool in the American school system, and for a good reason: Your teachers hate you.

Dave Barry

#56. The presidency is the most visible thread that runs through the tapestry of the American government. More often than not, for good or for ill, it sets the tone for the other branches and spurs the expectations of the people.

Mike Pence

#57. When you translate the American writers who are best with dialogue into German - someone like Elmore Leonard, or Tom Wolfe, who's also quite good with dialogue. It's very hard to translate them well.

Daniel Kehlmann

#58. Canadian-American relations for many years did not develop spontaneously. The example of accord provided by our two countries did not come about merely through the happy circumstance of geography. It is compounded of one part proximity and nine parts good will and common sense.

Harry S. Truman

#59. I experience for the American officers and soldiers that friendship which arises from having shared with them for a length of time dangers, sufferings, and both good and evil fortune.

Marquis De Lafayette

#60. Shit, money, and the World, the three American truths, powering the American mobility, claimed the Slothrops, clasped them for good to the country's fate. But they did not prosper ... about all they did was persist

Thomas Pynchon

#61. I would sooner play in a good British picture than in the majority of American pictures I have seen.

Glynis Johns

#62. I grew up on the old EC comic books before the Comics Code in North American and with all sort of good-natured fun. I never had nightmares I think because all of the old horror stuff that I was exposed to was well meaning in a certain sense.

George A. Romero

#63. I've always felt, as a writer, that radicals are fascinating because they're relations, they have a place in the American family. They're the relatives everyone wishes would go away. They're the embarrassments to decorum and good taste.

E.L. Doctorow

#64. Recently, I've discovered Radiohead and find them to be quite good. So clearly, I'm some kind of musical retard. (Jonathan Ames, Middle-American Gothic)

Dave Eggers

#65. I'm not a Communist. I'm an American. I'm a capitalist. I mean, I'm not a very good capitalist, myself. I'm not very good at it, but it's not that I'm not for capitalism. But people who believe in things like corporate citizenship, it's idiotic. I mean, it shows you're an idiot.

Fran Lebowitz

#66. The masses are brainwashed to the point that they believe if an American grocery store or restaurant offers a particular food, it must be good and safe.

Andreas Moritz

#67. I read somewhere that it's called American roulette. It was invented in America, in the goldfields. You put a single shot in the cylinder, give it a twirl, and then - bang! If you're lucky you break the bank; if not, then it's good-bye

Boris Akunin

#68. Our family's fortune is growing faster than ever. We're a part of a small number of American families that own most of the country's wealth. But having so much in the hands of so few can't be good for America.

Jamie Johnson

#69. It makes me feel good. Being a foreigner, (the American fans) they make me feel like I'm a citizen of this country.

Sergio Martinez

#70. I believe that it is my job to fight for the rights of others to have the same rights that I take for granted. As a white, American male, I have had it quite good. I recognize that and fight every day for everyone to have the same opportunities that I have had.

Michael Skolnik

#71. Axel smiled. "They say that good judgment comes from experience. And experience come from bad judgment." Alec laughed...

Ward Just

#72. You better ignore this.
You better staple your eyes shut
and put pot-lids over your ears
and pinch your nose with vice grips
and cement your mouth shut
with real cement and while
you're at it or in it or whatever
cut off your hands for good measure

B.J. Ward

#73. When an American asks for the cooperation of his fellow citizens, it is seldom refused; and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with great good will.

Alexis De Tocqueville

#74. Scientific research and other studies have demonstrated that arts education can enhance American students' math and language skills and improve test scores which in turn increase chances of higher education and good jobs in the future.

Thad Cochran

#75. Let each one of us say, 'I am an American. I intend to stay an American. I will do my best to wipe from my heart hate, rancor and political prejudice. I will sustain my government. And, through good days or bad, I will try to serve my country.'

Stephen Vincent Benet

#76. The American political system is not good at trading sacrifice now to prevent crises later.

Ezra Klein

#77. For fiction, I'm not particularly nationalistic. I'm not like the Hugo Chavez of Latin American letters, you know? I want people to read good work.

Daniel Alarcon

#78. Our relationship with the United States is not reduced to questions of fighting terrorism and the Iraq war. German-American relations were so good for so many years because they extended deeply into the normal lives of people.

Angela Merkel

#79. The American idea that everyone graduates high school at 18 is a good one.

David Miliband

#80. I think that whenever there's a good script we try to make that happen, but it's all based off of a good story, a good script, but I don't believe you should do it just because it's African-American.

Kenneth Edmonds

#81. And I know an eighteenth charm, and that charm is the greatest of all, and that charm I can tell no man, for a secret that no one knows but you is the most powerful secret there can ever be.

Neil Gaiman

#82. Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their
fathers. These laws were good.

Chief Joseph

#83. More Americans own their home than ever before. Nearly 70 percent of American's are homeowners. So it is a good time for us to asses the positive impacts of homeownership on families, communities and on the nation's economy.

Randy Neugebauer

#84. The two words, in the American lexicon, are never good. Pink slip. The first time I ever heard it when I was young was when Kaiser Steel handed out pink slips to many of my neighbors and relatives. Layoffs were about efficiency, sales figures for raw materials or refrigerators.

Susan Straight

#85. Blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. I'm an American, you moron. We wrote the book on insignificant peasants making good. I'm also not an idiot. And I'm also not buying it." I

Gini Koch

#86. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are two peas in the same pod, and the American people have tasted that, and said, 'Look, that's not a good taste.'

Mitt Romney

#87. There is nothing wrong where we reach a point where maybe everybody could claim a victory. I think it would be good for the American people, which should be our first priority.

John Breaux

#88. It was a good day to die, but nobody did.

Stephen Graham Jones

#89. Don't believe the dark whisperings that invite you to walk backward. At any time in your life, you have the power to turn forward.

Anasazi Foundation

#90. Everybody in America started to define themselves by all these things they had around them. And all of a sudden it came tumbling down. So the old American dream has died, and that is a good thing.

Suze Orman

#91. At the end of our lives, when our bodies are about to be laid in Mother Earth, we will know for ourselves whether we are a Two-Legged being full of light or a Two-Legged being full of darkness.

Anasazi Foundation

#92. You know, every country needs another country to mock, and Australians seem to be pretty good at impersonating American people. Maybe it's because all the movies and music and TV you see there is from America, so we just have the knack for it.

Callan McAuliffe

#93. The weekend brought good news for our friends in the cattle industry. At long last, Japan has taken the steps needed for American beef to make its way back into the Japanese market.

Randy Neugebauer

#94. The Bible Belt is collapsing. The world of nominal, cultural Christianity that took the American dream and added Jesus to it in order to say, 'you can have everything you ever wanted and Heaven too,' is soon to be gone. Good riddance.

Russell D. Moore

#95. I think it's sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that.

Orlando Bloom

#96. Don't talk to me about aesthetics or tradition. Talk to me about what sells and what's good right now. And what the American people like is to think the underdog still has a chance.

George Steinbrenner

#97. Some American delusions: 1) That there is no class-consciousness in the country. 2) That American coffee is good. 3) That Americans are business-like. 4) That Americans are highly-sexed and that redheads are more highly sexed than others.

W. Somerset Maugham

#98. Native Americans say, "It's a good day to die," and samurai live their life to die honorably, so that kind of energy creates a certain mindset of reactiveness with control to a point. And after that, it's gone.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

#99. Is it a good life, Daddy? Nkiru has taken to asking lately on the phone, with that faint, vaguely troubling American accent. It is not good or bad, I tell her, it is simply mine. And that is what matters.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#100. What makes American Elf so good is that it's incredibly personal and it runs the full spectrum from super-sickening sweetness to gut-wrenching terror and sorrow. It's a funny and powerful window into a real person's mind.

Tony Millionaire