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Just in time for July Fourth, the Reader’s Digest’s Chloë Nannestad comes to the rescue with 50 July 4th quotes to help us appreciate our country and time we get to spend celebrating the day with family and friends. Or put another way, she’s giving us these quotes to help us get our patriotism on and get in the red, white and blue mindset. Also, they could be the basis for a great Independence Day Trivia game. Here are just a few:
· “Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.”—John Gunther, writer
· “The flag represents all the values and liberties Americans have and enjoy every day.”—Bill Shuster, former U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania
· “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, 26th President of the United States
· “We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their plows but to secure liberty for their souls.”—Robert J. McCracken, writer
· “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, 30th President of the United States
· “America is another name for opportunity.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and Transcendentalist
· “What does the Flag mean? It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the man whose people have been here generations.”—Henry Cabot Lodge, politician
· “Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.”—Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father
· “Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.”—Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian
· “True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.”—Clarence Darrow, American lawyer
· “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”—Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary
· “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”—Adlai Stevenson II, former governor of Illinois
· “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.”—Will Rogers, Native American actor and writer
· “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”—James Madison, 4th President of the United States
· “Diversity of thought and culture and religion and ideas has become the strength of America.”—Gary Locke, politician and diplomat
· “Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” —Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice and civil rights activist
· “What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ‘to’ and freedom ‘from.’”—Marilyn vos Savant, writer
· “What we need are critical lovers of America—patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it.”—Hubert Humphrey, former Vice-President
· “True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on Earth.”—Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and human rights activist
· “Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”—Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
· “I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.”—Bob Dylan, musician
· “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”—John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
· “America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people.”—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice
· “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
· “Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.”—John Dickinson, Founding Father
Happy July 4th!
To see Chloë Nannestad’s complete list, courtesy of Reader’s Digest, please visit: https://www.rd.com/list/4th-of-july-quotes/
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