What Makes America Great Quotes & Sayings

First, my people must be taught the knowledge of self. Then and only then will they be able to under-stand others and that which surrounds them. Anyone who does not have a knowledge of self is considered a victim of either amnesia or unconsciousness and is not very competent. The lack of knowledge of self is a prevailing condition among my people here in America. Gaining the knowledge of self makes us unite into a great unity. Knowledge of self makes you take on the great virtue of learning. — Elijah Muhammad

My family's story isn't special. What's special is the America that makes our story possible. Ours is a nation like no other, a place where great journeys can be made in a single generation. No matter who you are or where you come from, the path is always forward. — Julian Castro

Because there is a time for all things. My people, like you, believe in peace. But sometimes, the only way to have peace is to fight for it. (Zenobia) — Kinley MacGregor

I think distance also helps me gain an certain critical perspective that's essential for good writing. It makes it possible to be more truthful in my writing, to speak some harsh truths. And being an immigrant in America, always having this outsider-rinsider thing going on, is such great training for being a writer. Because that's what writers are - outsiders wanting to get on the inside and insiders longing to burst out. — Thrity Umrigar

We have a country to turn around. This week you will nominate the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in 60 years in Mitt Romney. He has no illusions about what makes America great, and he doesn't confuse the presidency with celebrity, or loftiness with leadership. — Artur Davis

I come from very conservative parents, and we weren't particularly wealthy, but we were comfortable. — Richard C. Armitage

Welcome, old aspirations, glittering creatures of an ardent underneath the holly! We know you, and have not outlived you yet. Welcome, old projects, and old loves, however fleeting, to your nooks among the steadier lights that burn around us — Charles Dickens

Recordings of Georgian folk polyphonic songs makes a great musical impression. They are recorded in a tradition of active reproduction of Georgian folk music the origin of which begins from ancient time. It is a wonderful finding and can give to the performance much more than all the modem music can ... Yodel or "Krimanchuli" as it is called in Georgia is the best song which I have ever heard. ["America" magazine, No 23 1967] — Igor Stravinsky

I like to service the full audience of America, so I try to do things that are just real artistic, like when they don't have the most money, but it's a great piece of work. Then, there are big, fun comedies and big animated movies for kids. I want to do things for my nieces and nephews. Ultimately, we're trying to deliver something entertaining to an audience. As long as it can entertain the audience, and it makes me or my niece and nephew laugh or cry, then I think it's good. — Queen Latifah

I didn't realize how slow my four-year-old MacBook was until the web team wanted to start using it as the benchmark for a slow computer experience. — Chris Milk

Buffalo is one of America's great designed cities. The interweaving of great architecture, landscape architecture and important historic sites makes Buffalo a must see destination for preservationists, designers, history buffs, and anyone wishing to see an inspiring example of American design. — Richard Moe

And the American people are the greatest people in the world. What makes America the greatest nation in the world is the heart of the American people: hardworking, innovative, risk-taking, God- loving, family-oriented American people. — Mitt Romney

The collusion of big business, big labor, and big government threaten the spirit of small business that makes America great. — Foster Friess

What makes America great is that we can come together during times of national tragedy. — Dennis Hastert

I hope that America sees that I'm a fun loving guy and I hope they see the light of God in me, if that makes sense at all. This is a great platform, this is a great blessing that I have, and I I just want them to see something in me that says, 'Everything's going to be okay'. — Jacob Lusk

Shammiji is said to be India's answer to Elvis Presley, but I say that Elvis Presley is America's answer to Shammi Kapoor. The mark of a good actor is the belief with which he gives a shot and Shammiji gave his each shot with a strong belief and that makes him a great actor of all times. — Aamir Khan

We know that there is a standard set for us in the heavens, a standard revealed to us in this book [the Bible] whih is the fixed and eternal standard by which we judge ourselves ... Nothing makes America great except her acceptance of those standards of judgement which are written large upon the pages of revelation ... Let no man suppose that progress can be divorced from religion, or that there is any other platform for the ministers of reform than the platform written in the utterances of our Lord and Savior. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. — Woodrow Wilson

It is not in our forming battlements or bristling seacoasts, or our Army and Navy that makes America great - but rather our reliance in the law of liberty and the religious law God has planted in us. — Abraham Lincoln

Trouble is a sieve through which we sift our acquaintances. Those too big to pass through are our friends. — Arlene Francis

We all feel a separateness; we wish that a drop of water would soften our ego; the world needs a common conscience: agreement ... we must concentrate outside ourselves. — Mark Tobey

Let's not be too rough on our own ignorance, it's what makes America great. — Frank Zappa

We're smart enough to know we need to live in groups to survive, but we're still animals and we needs lots of room. In the case of the male of the species we also probably need that-guy-over-there's space. And his wife and cow, too. — Julia Phillips

After months of preparation working with a stylist who explained to me how a fashion house runs and the process of making a dress, I developed a respect for the patience and skill it takes to design these dresses. — Pierre Niney

Let's not be too tough on our own ignorance. It's the thing that makes
America great. If America weren't incomparably ignorant, how could we
have tolerated the last eight years? — Frank Zappa

With me and my girl, I'm number one - and she's the index finger. We're the same, but I go where she points. — Jarod Kintz

Part of what makes America great is that we stand by the countries that share our values around the world. That's why throughout its history, the State of Israel has had no greater friend than the United States of America. — Denis McDonough

Perhaps there has been, at some point in history, some great power whose elevation was exempt from the violent exploitation of other human bodies. If there has been, I have yet to discover it. But this banality of violence can never excuse America, because America makes no claim to the banal. America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist, a lone champion standing between the white city of democracy and the terrorists, despots, barbarians, and other enemies of civilization. One cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our countrymen's claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard. This is difficult because there exists, all around us, an apparatus urging us to accept American innocence at face value and not to inquire too much. — Ta-Nehisi Coates

We were having a class on civics, talking about what makes America a great country. I said I thought one important reason is that we've all come from different places in the world and that we learn from one another. — Ruth Reichl

What do you seek, so pensive and silent? What do you need, Camerado? Dear son! do you think it is love? Listen, dear son - listen, America, daughter or son! It is a painful thing to love a man or woman to excess - and yet it satisfies - it is great; But there is something else very great - it makes the whole coincide; It, magnificent, beyond materials, with continuous hands, sweeps and provides for all. — Walt Whitman

I like to bring people together so we don't waste opportunities and resources and keep doing the wrong things when we know better. Corporate America makes great things and things that can hurt us. They have to be part of the solutions. There's nothing to say you don't make a profit by doing good. — Teresa Heinz

Capablanca's play produced and still produces an irresistable artistic effect. In his games a tendency towards simplicity predominated, and in this simplicity there was a unique beauty of genuine depth. — Mikhail Botvinnik

What makes America great was a government that was founded to be limited to doing one thing. I really believe the whole purpose of America, the aspirational value - why everybody who wants to come to this country wants to come here - was because we respected the dignity of every living person. — Rick Santorum

I love physics because it is about truth, a world determined by principles and laws - no messing around or twisting things like in politics, particularly those in my country. — Malala Yousafzai

In her more lucid moments, she knew that half her life had been sacrificed to safeguard her secret heart, to appease that unreasonable, mortal dread she suffered of being suddenly revealed to others in a nakedness of spirit that terrified her more than the concept of God's own retribution itself. — Raymond Kennedy

I love solving problems. It makes me happy to juggle all the jobs I do-figuring out which team is supposed to win on Fox NFL Sunday; reacting off the cuff to Kelly [Ripa, on Live]; and now Good Morning America, trying to fit into that group. The great thing coming from sports is you understand the concept of a team. It leaves no room for being selfish. — Michael Strahan

Some well-meaning folks think if we stop talking about racism, it'll magically disappear, like the smell of an errant fart. But like a fart, people might try to be polite and ignore it, but everyone knows it's there. Avoidance has never been a great tactic in solving any problem. For most situations in life, not addressing what's going wrong only makes matters worse. It's like someone breaks your arm, and the person who slammed the baseball bat into it is saying, 'The only reason it won't heal is because you keep complaining that it hurts.' How about you get me a cast so the bone can set straight again? America does not want to put the effort into providing this cast. This is why we must talk about race, and we must do it openly. — Luvvie Ajayi

It was an accident of circumstance that I never married. — Quentin Blake

In my opinion, right up there with free public schools, our free public library system is what makes citizenship possible, even what makes America great. — Karen DeCrow