4th of July, Patriotic Quotes, Sentiments and Sayings

With less than 3 weeks till the 4th I thought it was time to post a list of patriotic quotes, sayings and other goodies for you. There are some quotes on liberty, patriotisim, the United States of America and more. Some work well for not only the 4th of July but for Memorial Day, inspirational cards and scrapbook lay-outs, an uplifting card for soldiers and so much more!
Hope you enjoy them...



227 years ago...on July 4th, 1776This great nation, the United States of America,In a struggle for what was right and free,Was proudly born...May we celebrate that precious freedomFor which our forbears fought so bravely...The freedom that is inherentIn the Stars and Stripes, our revered flag...Celebrate FreedomThis Fourth of July!

A Grand Ole Flag

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live. ~ Martin L King Jr.

A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. ~ George William Curtis

A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. ~ George Santayana

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. ~ Edward Abbey

A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works. ~ Bill Vaughan

A statistician made a few calculations and discovered that since the birth of our nation more lives had been lost in celebrating independence than in winning it. ~ Curtis Billings

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans! ~ Robert E Lee

All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse. ~ John Quincy Adams

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.~ Rudyard Kipling

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. ~ John Quincy Adams

America, for me, has been the pursuit and catching of happiness. ~ Aurora Raigne

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. ~ Max Lerner

America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

America is a tune. It must be sung together. ~ Gerald Stanley Lee

America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. ~ Adlai Stevenson

America the Beautiful

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood -- the virtues that made America. ~ Teddy Roosevelt
And I'm proud to be an American,where at least I know I'm free.And I won't forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.~ Lee Greenwood

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. ~ John F Kennedy

Better to starve free than be a fat slave.Aesop

Breathes there the man with soul so deadWho never to himself hath said,This is my own, my native land!Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'dAs home his footsteps he hath turn'dFrom wandering on a foreign strand?~ Walter Scott

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or to detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Celebrate Freedom



Celebrate the 4th

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. ~ John F Kennedy

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Did you hear about the cartoonist in the Continental Army?He was a Yankee doodler!Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell?Yeah, it cracked me up!

Do not regard the critics as questionable patriots. What were Washington and Jefferson and Adams but profound critics of the colonial status quo? ~ Adlai Stevenson

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. ~ Mark Twain

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Ev'ry heart beats true'neath the Red, White and Blue,~ George M. Cohan

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. ~ John F. Kennedy

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Fourth of July Night

The little boat at anchor in black water sat murmuring to the tall black sky
A white sky bomb fizzed on a black line.
A rocket hissed it's red signature into the west.
Now a shower of Chinese fire alphabets,
A cry of flower pots broken in flames,
A long curve to a purple spray, three violet balloons---
Drips of seaweed tangled in gold, shimmering symbols of mixed numbers,
Tremulous arrangements of cream gold folds of a bride's wedding gown---
A few sky bombs spoke their pieces, then velvet dark.
The little boat at anchor in black water sat murmuring to the tall black sky.
~ Carl Sandburg

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Freedom is never free. ~ Unknown

Freedom is not enough. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. ~ Albert Camus

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. ~ Moshe Dayan

Freedom's natural day is here.Fire the guns and shout for freedom,See the flag above unfurled!Hail the stars and stripes forever,Dearest flag in all the world. ~ Florence A. Jones
From every mountain sideLet Freedom ring.~ Samuel F. Smith

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? 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! ~ Patrick Henry



Happy Birthday America

He is a poor patriot whose patriotism does not enable him to understand how all men everywhere feel about their altars and their hearthstones, their flag and their fatherland. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

He loves his country best who strives to make it best. ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~ Thomas Paine

He who loves not his country, can love nothing. ~ Lord Byron
How is a healthy person like the United States?They both have good constitutions!

How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy. ~ Paul Sweeney

Hurray for the Red, White & Blue!

I believe in America because we have great dreams - and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true. ~ Wendell L. Wilkie

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. ~ Martin L. King Jr.

I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking.Woodrow T. Wilson


I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I love my freedom. I love my America. ~ Jessi Lane Adams



I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. ~ Nathan Hale
I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery. ~ Unknown

I shall know but one country. The ends I aim at shall be my country’s, my God’s and Truth’s. I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American. ~ Daniel Webster

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. ~ Gary HartI wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~ Hamilton Fish

If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag. ~ Unknown

If you take advantage of everything America has to offer, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. ~ Geraldine Ferraro



In a chariot of light from the region of the day,
The Goddess of Liberty came
She brought in her hand as
a pledge of her love,
the plant she named Liberty Tree. ~ Thomas Paine

In the beginning, all the world was America. ~ John Locke

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Independence Day

I know it's hard for you
I guess that's the way it must be
It's kinda rough on me, too
but time is out now, don't you see?

The day has come now
when I must tell you goodbye
I'm going to manage somehow
either to survive or to die

I'm leaving now
don't ask me why
I've got to get out of here
I'll spread my wings
and try to fly
and if I fail
I'll hit the ground and die

I put no blame on you
but there's no way that I could stay
I guess you already knew
it is my independence day
It is sad to grow up
and see everything disappear
but you can't make the world stop
I've got to get rid of my fear
I'm leaving now
don't ask me why

I've got to get out of here
I'll spread my wings
and try to fly
and if I fail
I'll hit the ground and die.
~ Hanne Munkholm

Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country. ~ Sinclair Lewis

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~ Dick Cheney

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. ~ Robert Kennedy



It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country. ~ Homer

It is sweet to serve one's country by deeds, and it is not absurd to serve her by words. ~ Sallust

It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations. ~ Henry Cabot Lodge

It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism. ~ J. Horace McFarland

Land of the Free

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, to assure the survival and success of liberty. ~ John F Kennedy

Let freedom never perish in your hands. ~ Joseph Addison

Let Freedom Ring!

Let us march immediately, and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence. ~ Nathan Hale

Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable! ~ Daniel Webster

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. ~ Harry Emerson
Liberty is the breath of life to nations. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Liberty: One of Imagination's most precious possessions. ~ Ambrose Bierce

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain. ~ John F. Kennedy

Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him. ~ Giuseppe Mazzini



Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. ~ Thomas Macaulay

May I never wake up from the American dream. ~ Carrie Latet

May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country! ~ Daniel Webster

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves. ~ D H Lawrence

Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own. ~ Seneca



My favorite thing about the United States? Lots of Americans, one America. ~ Val Saintsbury

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! ~ Thomas Jefferson

My patriotic heart beats red, white, and blue. ~ Unknown

National honor is national property of the highest value. ~ James Monroe

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. ~ Fredrick Douglass

Of all the supervised conditions for life offered man, those under USA's constitution have proved the best. Wherefore, be sure when you start modifying, corrupting or abrogating it. ~ Martin H. Fischer

Off with your hat, as the flag goes by!And let the heart have its say;you're man enough for a tear in your eyethat you will not wipe away.~ Henry Cuyler Bunner

Oh, it's home again and home again, America for me! I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea To the blessed land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars. ~ Henry Van Dyke

One of the great attractions to patriotism - it fulfils 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. ~ Aldous Huxley

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.~ Robert Kennedy
Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS… ~ Thomas Paine

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. ~ James Bryce

Our country, right or wrong. When right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right. ~ Carl Schurz

Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose. ~ Ulysses S. Grant

Our hearts where they rocked our cradle,Our love where we spent our toil,And our faith, and our hope, and our honor,We pledge to our native soil.God gave all men all earth to love,But since our hearts are small,Ordained for each one spot should proveBeloved over all.~ Rudyard Kipling

Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. ~ John Gunther



Patriotism is easy to understand in America - it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Patriotism is like charity -- it begins at home. ~ James Henry

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. ~ Adlai Stevenson

Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.Mark Twain

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. ~ John Quincy Adams

Some Americans need hyphens in their names, because only part of them has come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all, the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name. ~ Woodrow Wilson

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. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Star-spangled happiness and banner waves of pride. ~ Cherishe Archer

Star – Spangled Holiday

Stars & Stripes

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. ~ John Wayne
Territory is but the body of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul, its spirit, its life. ~ James Garfield

...That 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. ~ Abraham Lincoln
That which distinguishes this day from all others is that then both orators and artillerymen shoot blank cartridges. ~ John Burroughs

The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly. ~ John F Kennedy
The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation. ~ Woodrow Wilson

The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness, you have to catch it yourself. ~ Benjamin Franklin



The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. ~ Samuel Adams

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. ~ Thomas Campbell

The single best augury is to fight for one's country. ~ Homer

The skies of happiness shine upon these United States of America. ~ Mirakel Reves

The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. ~ Douglas MacArthur

The stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the great everlasting things that matter for a nation; the great peaks of honor we had forgotten - duty and patriotism, clad in glittering white; the great pinnacle of sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to heaven. ~ David Lloyd George

The United States is the only country with a known birthday. ~ James G. Blaine
The winds that blow through the wide sky in these mounts, the winds that sweep from Canada to Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic - have always blown on free men. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.~ John Dickinson

There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream. ~ Archibald MacLeish

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. ~ Thomas Paine

There, I guess King George will be able to read that.John Hancock

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. ~ William J. Clinton

These colors don’t run! ~ Unknown

These united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. ~ Richard Henry Lee

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety. ~ Benjamin Franklin

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~ Elmer Davis

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. ~ Teddy Roosevelt
This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~ Thomas Paine



Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. ~ Louis D. Brandeis

To me, being an American means feeling safe. ~ Currielene Armstrong

To the Founding Fathers

Your light still lingers in our distant morning,
A star that we perceive across the void.
We chart our passage by your words, still burning
Long after your bright core has been destroyed.
No longer do we speak of "natural" rights,
Nor can we think that Reason guides our will.
We've been through far too many gruesome nights
To hope we have reduced our lust to kill.
Yet hope remains the engine of our fire,
Hope that someday all of us will be
Happy in the least that we require:
Well-fed, well-housed, safe, secure, and free.
This dream we still pursue. Though darkness come,
Your wisdom, hope, and courage through us run.
~ Unknown

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. ~ Clarence Darrow

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. ~ George S Patton

We are free, truly free, when we don't need to rent our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths. ~ Ricardo Flores Magon

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ~ Abraham Lincoln

We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home. . .But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done. ~ Calvin Coolidge

We can't all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots. ~ Charles F. Browne

We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution. ~ John F. Kennedy

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ~ The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

W e have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights. ~Felix Frankfurter

We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home. . .But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done. ~ Calvin Coolidge

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. ~ William Faulkner

We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another. ~ Richard Nixon

We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us..... The old "manifest destiny" idea ought to be modified so that each nation has the manifest destiny to do the best it can - and that without cant, without the assumption of self-righteousness and with a desire to learn to the uttermost from other nations. ~ Francis John McConnell

We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit. ~ Hubert H. Humphrey

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~ Robert J. McCracken

We sleep peacefully at night, cradled by the big strong hands of America. ~ Val Saintsbury

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others. ~ John F Kennedy

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country. ~ Joseph Addison

What dance was very popular in 1776?Indepen-dance!

What did one flag say to the other flag?Nothing. It just waved!

What ghost haunted King George III?The spirit of '76!

What happened as a result of the Stamp Act?The Americans licked the British!

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from." ~ Marilyn vos Savant

What kind of tea did the American colonists thirst for?Liberty!

What march would you play at a jungle parade?"Tarzan Stripes Forever"!

What protest by a group of dogs occurred in 1773?The Boston Flea Party!

What quacks, has webbed feet, and betrays his country?Beneduck Arnold!

What was General Washington's favourite tree?The infantry!

What was the craziest battle of the Revolutionary War?The Battle of Bonkers Hill.

What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it. ~ Hubert H. Humphrey

What would you get if you crossed a patriot with a small curly-haired dog?Yankee Poodle!

What's big, cracked, and carries your luggage?The Liberty Bellhop!

When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect. ~ Adlai Stevenson

When I die, I desire no better winding sheet than the Stars and Stripes, and no softer pillow than the Constitution of my country. ~ Andrew Johnson

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Why did Paul Revere ride his horse from Boston to Lexington?Because the horse was too heavy to carry!

Why is the Liberty Bell like a dropped Easter egg?Because they're both cracked!
Without freedom, no one really has a name. ~ Milton Acorda

Yesterday, the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. ~ John Adams

Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.... We are not a nation, so much as a world. ~ Herman Melville

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~ Erma Bombeck