America

America -- the best poor man's country in the world.
~ William Allen

I agree with these experts who foresee a continuing, and probably heightened, threat of terrorist attacks by both foreign and domestic individuals and groups. Of course, we should be careful not to exaggerate or sensationalize the risk; I think it is unlikely we will undergo a sudden wave of large-scale attacks. But, a number of factors have coalesced in recent years which do presage that terrorism will be a persistent danger.
~ William P. Barr, Statement to the House Judiciary Committee on H.R. 1710: The Comprehensive Aniterrorism Act of 1995 (12 June 1995)

I am likewise persuaded, Sir, that Blazonry not only merits the notice of an inquisitive mind, viewed merely as an affectative science; but that Coat-Armour, the Object of it, may be rendered conducive to both public and private uses, of considerable importance, in this infant nation, now rising into greatness; and I trust that your Excellency, to whom every true American looks up, as the guardian of your Country and patron of its increasing glory, will concur with me in the sentiment, that every institution which may assist in promoting the great cares of Government, is worthy of public attention.
~ William Barton, Quoted in Pennsylvania Historical Association Pennsylvania History, Vol. XII, 3 (July, 1945). Letter to General Washington, dated 28 August 1788

It is a Grand Anvil Chorus that these sturdy sledges are playing across the plains. It is in triple time, three strokes to a spike . . . Twenty-one million times are they to come down with their sharp punctuation before the great work of modern America is complete.
~ Dr. William A. Bell

America's only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore.
~ William John Bennett, Speech at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC (7 December 1993). What Really Ails America

Despite our wonders and greatness, we are a society that has experienced so much social regression, so much decadence, in so short a period of time, that in many parts of America we have become the kind of place to which civilized countries used to send missionaries.
~ William John Bennett, Forrestal Lecture given at the United States Naval Academy (November 1997). Does honor have a future?

For the first time in a long while there was a palpable, shared sense that this was indeed our country, and that it was a country worth fighting for.
~ William John Bennett (on reaction to Sept. 11), Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (2002).

If we have full employment and greater economic growth -- if we have cities of gold and alabaster -- but our children have not learned how to walk in goodness, justice and mercy, then the American experiment, no matter how gilded, will have failed.
~ William John Bennett, Speech at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC (7 December 1993). What Really Ails America

Many of us have forgotten what we once knew about our freedoms and our decencies, and we have forgotten why, time and time again, we have had to rally ourselves to the point of ultimate sacrifice to defend them.
~ William John Bennett, Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (2002).

The history of our nation is intertwined with a certain religious tradition, and that the First Amendment was not intended to result in the complete exclusion of religious beliefs from our public classrooms.
~ William John Bennett, The De-Valuing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Our Children (February 1992).

The secretary of education does not work for the education establishment. The secretary works for the American people.
~ William John Bennett, Christian Science Monitor (12 March 1985).

To be called an American citizen is perhaps the proudest title to which any citizen, at any time, in any country, could ever claim. It is that great a privilege. It is that high an honor.
~ William John Bennett, The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals (January 1998).

Washington is a city of people doing badly what shouldn't be done at all.
~ William John Bennett, Quoted in U.S. News & World Report (13 January 1997).

We defeated the twin menaces of fascism and Soviet communism. We advanced the well-being of people around the world, ameliorating suffering, improving human rights and promoting democracy. Such achievements wouldn't be possible without moral clarity.
~ William John Bennett, in The Dallas Morning News Moral clarity isn't simplistic: We need a way to discern what ends we ought to pursue (12 May 2002)

While America always has acted -- and always should act -- to ensure our own interests, we also have done more than any other nation in the past two centuries to make the world a better place.
~ William John Bennett, in The Dallas Morning News Moral clarity isn't simplistic: We need a way to discern what ends we ought to pursue (12 May 2002)

The Votomatic is part of the machinery of American democracy. In a political era of focus groups and political polling, the 2000 presidential election brought the voter into the spotlight. We learned that the saying 'every vote counts' is true.
~ William L. Bird, National Museum of American History Press Release (6 November 2001). Smithsonian Adds Votomatic to Presidential Collections

America's state religion, [is] patriotism, a phenomenon which has convinced many of the citizenry that "treason" is morally worse than murder or rape.
~ William Blum

From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. . . . In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.
~ William Blum, Rogue State (2000).

Sir, since the debate opened months ago those of us who have stood against this proposition have been taunted many times with being little Americans. Leave us the word American, keep that in your presumptuous impeachment, and no taunt can disturb us, no gibe discompose our purposes. Call us little Americans if you will, but leave us the consolation and the pride which the term American, however modified, still imparts.
~ William Edgar Borah (in reference to the treaty to ratify the League of Nations), Remarks in the U.S. Senate (19 November 1919). "Little American" speech

Let us turn from the line of vulgar conquerors to the fathers of the Republic; let us learn from them, that the truest patriotism is the preservation of our institutions, the truest wisdom is moderation. In short, let our history be not the history of our imagination, but the history of our common sense.
~ William Waters Boyce, Speech delivered in the House of Representatives (15 January 1855). The Annexation of Cuba

[M]embers of the public are under the illusion that the "information" they receive is educating them on subjects that matter. In fact they are by and large being fed what the institutions that perpetuate the power of corporate America wish to feed them.
~ William H. Boyer, Myth America: Democracy vs. Capitalism (2003).

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.
~ William Bradford (on events leading to the First Thanksgiving, in the autumn of 1621), Of Plymouth Plantation

The only way to be true to our American tradition is to maintain absolute governmental neutrality regarding religious beliefs and practices.
~ Bill Bradley, Letter to Herbert G. Schapiro (27 June 1990)

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights solemnly committed the United States to be a country where the dignity and rights of all persons were equal before all authority. In all candor we must concede that part of this egalitarianism in America has been more pretension than realized fact. But we are an aspiring people, a people with faith in progress.
~ William Joseph Brennan, Jr., Address to the Text and Teaching Symposium. Georgetown University, Washington DC (12 October 1985). The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification

They boast that America is the "cradle of liberty;" if it is, I fear they have rocked the child to death.
~ William Wells Brown

This is emphatically an age of discoveries; but I will venture the assertion, that none but an American slaveholder could have discovered that a man born in a country was not a citizen of it.
~ William Wells Brown, in The Liberator (22 November 1849).

All the ills from which America suffers can be traced back to the teaching of evolution. It would be better to destroy every other book ever written, and save just the first three verses of Genesis.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Address to Seventh Day Adventists (1924).

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Speech in Washington, DC (22 February 1899). America's Mission

Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments -- a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Anti-imperialism speech (6 July 1900)

I had forgotten just how flat and empty it [middle America] is. Stand on two phone books almost anywhere in Iowa and you get a view.
~ Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (1989).

America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil before the settlers, before the Indians. The evil is there waiting.
~ William S. Burroughs, The Naked Lunch (1959).

America is not so much a nightmare as a non-dream. The American non-dream is precisely a move to wipe the dream out of existence. The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set up by the non-dreamers.
~ William S. Burroughs, in The Job: Interviews With William S. Burroughs (1969). Prisoners of the Earth Come Out

Americans have a special horror of giving up control, of letting things happen in their own way without interference. They would like to jump down into their stomachs and digest the food and shovel the shit out.
~ William S. Burroughs

Thanks for the American dream, to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through. Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind their own business.
~ William S. Burroughs

The most curious anomaly among the race of man, the red man of America, is passing away beneath our eyes in to the infinite solitude. The possession of the same noble qualities which we affect to reverence among our nation makes us kill him. If he would be as the African or the Asiatic it would be all right for him; if he would be our slave he might live, but as he won't be that, won't toil and delve and hew for us, and will persist in hunting, fishing, and roaming over the beautiful prairie land which the Great Spirit gave him; in a word, since he will be free -- we kill him.
~ Sir William Francis Butler, The Great Lone Land (1872).

Many who wave American flags also practice discrimination on the basis of race. Many who wave American flags practice anti-Semitism. We think that betrays the fundamental ideals of our democracy.
~ Bill Campbell, FoxNews Channel, Hannity & Colmes (5 December 2001). Misquote?

Yes, sir. I'm a real Southern boy. I got a red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer.
~ Billy Carter, Plains, GA (1976).

I employ myself drawing a connection of the country from what information I have received.
~ William Clark, from The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Entry of 5 January 1805

The world is the most dangerous place it's ever been now because of what our country has done and is doing. And we have to take it back.
~ (William) Ramsey Clark, Address to the Counter-Inaugural demonstration at 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave (20 January 2005).

In the United States grim poverty is a tragedy that great wealth makes a sin.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Social Justice and Economic Rights

Fatherhood is helping your children learn English as a foreign language.
~ Bill Cosby, Fatherhood (1986).

That hole in the side of the Cole was actually a hole in the chest and the heart of the American people.
~ William S. Cohen

The threat of terrorism taking place on American soil is real, with chemical, biological, indeed, as you've indicated, even potentially nuclear weapons. We have, in fact, increased our security in this country. There is no foolproof security that we can provide. But to say that we can't protect against everything doesn't mean that we shouldn't protect against those that can cause us catastrophic harm.
~ William S. Cohen, CNN TV "Evans and Novak" (1 July 2000).

This memorial is more than a remembrance, it's also a reminder that women in the military's service to America is not new and should never again be allowed to go unrecognized. We don't allow women in service as a social favor; we do not train women in the name of a noble social experiment. Today, women in uniform are part of the national security of the United States, and this isn't a modern nicety, it's a military necessity. . . . Our military wouldn't be what it is today without women.
~ William S. Cohen, Speech at the Dedication Ceremony of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, Arlington, VA (18 October 1997)

American sex shops are the most bizarre. They sell these inflatable dolls, but they also sell just the head -- supposedly for people to drive along the highway with.
~ Billy Connolly

Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.
~ Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecouer (referring to America), (1782).

Well, the way things are going, aside from wheat and auto parts, America's biggest export is now the Oscar.
~ Billy Crystal, Hosting the 69th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles CA (24 March 1997).

And though I've seen a lot of ripples in the waters of my life, the wake caused by the nation's recent tragic events is difficult to measure. The evil touched us all. But there was also an undercurrent -- something called unity -- that made me very proud even in such a time of darkness.
~ Bill Dance, Bill Dance's Fishing (January 2002).

After an American has been in a totalitarian country for several months, he is greatly relieved when he reaches home. He feels that bonds have been released and that he is free. He can speak above a whisper, and he walks relaxed and unguarded as though he were no longer being followed. After a recent trip I said to a neighbor, "It's wonderful to be back in a nation where even a riot may be tolerated."
~ William Orville Douglas, Points of Rebellion (1969). How America Views Dissent

Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us?
~ William Orville Douglas (dissenting opinion), Colten v. Kentucky, 407 U.S. 104 (1972)

The dissenting opinion has continued since 1792 as a great American tradition. It is as true to the character of our democracy as of speech itself.
~ William Orville Douglas, An Almanac of Liberty (1954).

The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty.
~ William Orville Douglas

The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government -- the principle of civilian ascendency over the military.
~ William Orville Douglas

Mary Jane, this is my ship flag, Old Glory. It has been my constant companion. I love it as a mother loves her child. Cherish it as I have cherished it.
~ William Driver (said to his daughter on his deathbed), (c. March 1886).

[A]ll in all, we black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903). Of Our Spiritual Strivings

By the God of heaven, we are cowards and jackasses if now that the war is over, we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight a sterner, longer, more unbending battle against the forces of hell in our own land.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, Editorial in The Crisis magazine (April 1919). Returning Soldier

Your country? How came it to be yours? Before the Pilgrims landed we were here. Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song -- soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903). The Sorrow Songs

And how great is this monument! How noble! How beautiful! How inspiring for the time that looks upon its completion and for the ages that shall mark it hereafter! If our country and France, as we hope, may go on in the enlargement and advancement of a glorious civilization, we may feel sure that if our descendants shall overtop us in wealth, in strength, in art, and equal us in love of liberty, they will not say that this was not a worthy triumph for the age in which we live; and if, unhappily, malign influences shall degrade our civilization and our fame, and travellers and dwellers here shall find their power has waned, and their love of liberty declined, if they shall have become a poverty-stricken and debased people, what will they think of this remaining monument of a past and lost age, but that it was a creation of the gods and that no men ever lived.
~ William Maxwell Evarts (of the Bartholdi statue), Speech at the banquet given by the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York (24 June 1885). Liberty Enlightening the World

If we Americans are to survive it will have to be because we choose and elect and defend to be first of all Americans; to present to the world one homogeneous and unbroken front, whether of white Americans or black ones or purple or blue or green. . . . If we in America have reached that point in our desperate culture when we must murder children, no matter for what reason or what color, we don't deserve to survive, and probably won't.
~ William Faulkner, in Writers at Work, First Series (Interview; 1958).

The writer in America isn't part of the culture of this country. He's like a fine dog. People like him around, but he's of no use. . . .
~ William Faulkner

The suburbs increasingly are becoming a microcosm of America. All the problems we associate with America and even urban America are suburban problems . . . housing affordability at the low end, senior services at the high end.
~ William Frey, The Associated Press (6 February 2002). Cities and Suburbs Are Trading Paces

From slavery to segregation, we remember that America did not always live up to its ideals. In fact, we often fell far short of them. But we also learned that fundamental to our national character is the drive to live out the true meaning of our creed.
~ Bill Frist, Speech delivered before the U.S. Senate (9 February 2005). Celebrating African-American History Month

In times of great national struggle, the American Spirit brings us all together, and as a result we will be stronger and even more committed to the principles of liberty and justice for which we stand.
~ Bill Frist, News Release (7 October 2001). Frist Comments on Allies' Attacks in Afghanistan

Senator Lott's choice of words was insensitive and poorly chosen. Those words do not represent the values of our country. They are not the values of the Republican party. . . . Our party has fought throughout its history to promote equality and fairness for all Americans and continues to do so today. Segregationist policies are the saddest chapter in our nation's history, and comments from any elected official that suggest support for these offensive policies of the past must be condemned.
~ Bill Frist, Press Release Of Senator Bill Frist, M.D. (12 December 2002). Frist Comments On Lott Statement

I think we Americans tend to put too high a price on unanimity . . . as if there were something dangerous and illegitimate about honest differences of opinion honestly expressed by honest men.
~ J. William Fulbright

It was never intended by the Founding Fathers that the President of the United States should be a ventriloquist's dummy sitting on the lap of Congress.
~ J. William Fulbright

Americans want grungy people, stabbing themselves in the head on stage. They get a bright bunch like us, with deodorant on, they don't get it.
~ Liam Gallagher

America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded -- though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean that our high schools -- even when they're working exactly as designed -- cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.
~ Bill Gates, Keynote Address, National Education Summit on High Schools, Washington DC (26 February 2005).

The American realizes that "Progress is God."
~ William Gilpin, The Central Gold Region (1860).

The destiny of the American people is to subdue the continent -- to rush over this vast field to the Pacific Ocean . . . to change darkness into light and confirm the destiny of the human race. . . . Divine task! Immortal mission!
~ William Gilpin, The Central Gold Region (1860)

Jefferson Davis and other leaders of the South have made an army; they are making, it appears, a navy; and they have made what is more than either, -- they have made a nation. . . . We may anticipate with certainty the success of the Southern States so far as regards their separation from the North.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, Speech at Newcastle, England (7 October 1862).

America's founding fathers did not intend to take religion out of education. Many of the nation's greatest universities were founded by evangelists and religious leaders; but many of these have lost the founders concept and become secular institutions. Because of this attitude, secular education is stumbling and floundering.
~ Billy Graham

No matter how hard we try words simply cannot express the horror, the shock, and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in our history as a day to remember.
~ Billy Graham, Speech (14 September 2001). National Day of Prayer and Remembrance

One of the things we desperately need is a spiritual renewal in this country. We need a spiritual revival in America.
~ Billy Graham, Speech (14 September 2001). National Day of Prayer and Remembrance

While nobody likes a watchdog, and for that reason many investigation committees are unpopular, I thank God for men who, in the face of public denouncement and ridicule, go loyally on in their work of exposing the pinks, the lavenders and the reds who have sought refuge beneath the wings of the American eagle and from that vantage point try in every subtle, undercover way to bring comfort, aid and help to the greatest enemy we have ever known -- communism.
~ Billy Graham, Radio broadcast (1953).

If you've got a problem with New York City being the capital of the world, take it up with the Pope.
~ Rudolph William Giuliani, Bill Adler Jr. (April 2002). The Quotable Giuliani: The Mayor of America in His Own Words

Americans cannot teach democracy to the world until they restore their own.
~ William Greider

There was a deep sense of absurdity in Levittown, this kind of self-conscious striving to be the ideal suburb, the ideal American Leave-It-to-Beaver-Land.
~ William Henry Jackson (Bill) Griffith, Dallas Morning News (7 July 1997).

Here speaks a voice from America.
~ William Harlan Hale, in Voice of America (VOA) Office of External Affairs Voice of America History (opening words in the first broadcast to Europe, 24 February 1942)

The Constitution confers extraordinary power on the President to enable him to carry out his ultimate responsibility of ensuring that the American people are safe and secure. To fail to exercise this power would be to fail to discharge this most basic of all presidential responsibilities.
~ William James Haynes (regarding conclusions in the "Preliminary Report of the ABA Task Force on Treatment of Enemy Combatants"), Letter to American Bar Association (September 2002).

Perhaps it's in our blood, maybe it's just in our history, but surely it's in the American vein to head out for some other place when home becomes intolerable, or merely even when the distant side of the beyond seems a lure we can't resist.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).

Whoever the last true cowboy in America turns out to be, he's likely to be an Indian.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).

Nowadays, of course, we are witnessing the trashing of taste in America.
~ William Heath, in The Monocacy Valley Review (1994).

Ours is a superior culture, and it is so precisely because of its individualism.
~ William A. Henry III, In Defense of Elitism (1994).

The United States seems to be at once the most religious and the most secular of nations.
~ Will Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew: An Essay in American Religious Sociology (1955).

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
~ Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit (Song title, 1938)

[I]nequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself.
~ William Dean Howells, from Impressions and Experiences (1896). New York Streets

Protectionism is the ally of isolationism, and isolationism is the Dracula of American foreign policy.
~ William G. Hyland

Corporate greed is killing America, and that's what we battling at Boeing.
~ Bill Johnson

This is a great victory for all unions in the United States of America -- and we've only started!
~ Bill Johnson

We're not here to pick winners and losers: the only winner has got to be the American consumer.
~ William Kennard

We are a peaceful people -- but we will not turn the other cheek; no one should doubt our resolve.
~ William O. Lipinski, Statement on the Terrorist Attack on America (12 September 2001)

When it comes to an important portion of American ambassadorial appointments, we are still in the era of the Charge of the Light Brigade.
~ William B. Macomber, in The New York Times (20 November 1984).

I think we all remember that those first months after the attack, this country really was a very different country. I think we were ready to do anything. I think we would have marched into hell behind this guy. . . . I think nobody in a position of leadership, not the Democrats, not the president, asked anyone in this country to rethink or redo anything. The most they asked us to do was to keep the economy going, to shop and go see shows again and travel.
~ Bill Maher, MSNBC (fall 2002). Hardball with Chris Matthews

Recently, there's been a trend in America that I find very disturbing . . . rewarding immoral and illegal behavior. . . . For example, we now give free needles to junkies, which seems to me to be only a step away from giving condoms to rapists.
~ Bill Maher, Quoted in Books & Culture (November/December 1996).

We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep and conformists.
~ Bill Maher, The Washington Times (22 February 2003). Politically irrelevant Bill Maher

America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking.
~ Wilma Mankiller

The Americans . . . have invented so wide a range of pithy and hackneyed phrases that they can carry on an amusing and animated conversation without giving a moment's reflection to what they are saying and so leave their minds free to consider the more important matters of big business and fornication.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale (1930).

The fact is that there is a serious danger of this country becoming a pluto-democracy; that is, a sham republic with the real government in the hands of a small clique of enormously wealth men, who speak through their money, and whose influence, even today, radiates to every corner of the United States.
~ William Gibbs McAdoo, from Crowded Years: The Reminiscences of William G. McAdoo (1931).

For the American to meditate is most difficult. He has little time to muse. The world is with him too late and too soon. He doesn't think that he is traveling unless he is going at the rate of sixty miles an hour. He lives in a delectable pell-mell and carnival of hurry. He has no leisure to brood.
~ William T. McElveen

We're caffeinated, buzzed, wired, plugged-in.
~ Bill McKibben, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For a More Joyful Christmas (1998).

[Los Angeles] . . . a circus without a tent.
~ Carey McWilliams, Southern California Country (1946).

In one way or another, this is the oldest story in America: the struggle to determine whether "we, the people" is a spiritual idea embedded in a political reality -- one nation, indivisible -- or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.
~ Bill Moyers, Speech at the "Take Back America Conference," Washington DC (4 June 2003). Acceptance of America's Future Lifetime Leadership Award

Our nation recommitted itself to making manned space flight as safe as possible after the Challenger explosion. But these efforts have lagged amid the budget pressures and cuts of recent years. Now, in the wake of this new tragedy, we need to make a new commitment. And we must live up to it.
~ Bill Nelson, in The Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State (2 February 2003). A New Commitment to Space

There must be at least 500,000,000 rats in the United States; of course, I am speaking only from memory.
~ Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye

The children of America have seen with their own eyes that liars can win and cheaters can prosper. They know that our nation will accept venal behavior and, in some cases, reward it with tremendous wealth and power. So why wouldn't they lie, cheat and steal?
~ Bill O'Reilly, The No-Spin Zone (October 2001). Introduction

I would stress that the judge's order in no way precludes reciting the pledge in our schools. I would hope that the day would begin in every Colorado classroom with the Pledge of Allegiance as it has in most of our classrooms for decades.
~ Bill Owens, Office of the Governor -- Press Office (15 August 2003). Statement By Gov. Bill Owens Regarding Pledge Of Allegiance Court Action

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I, therefore, believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
~ William Tyler Page, The American's Creed (adopted by Congress in 1918)

It is the summary of the fundamental principles of the American political faith as set forth in its greatest documents, its worthiest traditions, and its greatest leaders.
~ William Tyler Page (referring to the Creed).

He who attacks the fundamentals of the American broadcasting industry attacks democracy itself.
~ William Samuel Paley (in response to the Wagner-Hatfield Amendment, 1937)

You cannot conquer the Americans. . . . We do not know the worst, we only know that in three campaigns we have done nothing and suffered much.
~ William Pitt (Earl of Chatham), Speech (18 November 1777)

East is East, and West is San Francisco, according to Californians. Californians are a race of people; they are not merely inhabitants of a State.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million (1910).

It'll be a great place if they ever finish it.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry)

People need to know the American Dream is still alive and well. You don't need a Harvard MBA, and you don't need a million dollars to be successful in America. A guy like me can go out there and start a business . . . How great is this country?
~ Bill Rancic, Entrepreneur Magazine (June 2004). You're Hired!

We cannot have a full economic recovery, we cannot ensure the security of this country, while the states are in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis in half a century. Direct aid to cash-strapped states is perhaps the most direct way to immediately jump-start an ailing economy.
~ Bill Richardson, The Associated Press (12 January 2003). Richardson Gives Democratic Response to Bush Radio Address

America is a land of opportunity and don't ever forget it.
~ Will Rogers

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?
~ Will Rogers

Baseball is a skilled game. It's America's game -- it, and high taxes.
~ Will Rogers

He is the first president to discover that what the American people want is to be left alone.
~ Will Rogers (on Calvin Coolidge), (newspaper column, 1924).

I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father."
~ Will Rogers

If we ever pass out as a great nation we ought to put on our tombstone, "America died from a delusion that she has moral leadership."
~ Will Rogers

My ancestors didn't come over in the Mayflower -- they met the boat.
~ Will Rogers

No nation ever had two better friends than we have. You know who they are? The Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
~ Will Rogers

Now if there is one thing that we do worse than any other nation, it is try and manage somebody else's affairs.
~ Will Rogers

Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln.
~ Will Rogers

Outside of traffic, there is nothing that has held this country back as much as committees.
~ Will Rogers

[San Francisco] . . . the city that never was a town.
~ Will Rogers

The American people are a very generous people and will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity.
~ Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest (1924).

The rest of the people know the condition of the country, for they live in it, but Congress has no idea what is going on in America, so the president has to tell 'em.
~ Will Rogers

The short memories of the American voter is what keeps our politicians in office.
~ Will Rogers

The United States never lost a war or won a conference.
~ Will Rogers

There's the one thing no nation can ever accuse us of and that is secret diplomacy. Our foreign dealings are an open book, generally a check book.
~ Will Rogers

We don't know what we want, but we are ready to bite somebody to get it.
~ Will Rogers

You shake a slogan at an American and it's just like showing a hungry dog a bone.
~ Will Rogers

Americans need rest, but do not know it. I believe this to be a large part of the explanation of the crime wave in the United States.
~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Quoted in Bertrand Russell (1958).

In America, everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.
~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell

In America, where the romantic view of marriage has been taken more seriously than anywhere else, and where law and custom alike are based upon the dreams of spinsters, the result has been an extreme prevalence of divorce and an extreme rarity of happy marriages.
~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Marriage and Morals (1929). VI: Romanic Love

The basic problem in Negro America is the destruction of race pride. One could say we have been victims of psychological warfare, in a sense, in that this is a white country, and all the emphasis is on being white.
~ William Felton (Bill) Russell, in ESPN "Classic's SportsCentury" (2001). Russell was proud, fierce warrior

If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
~ William L. Safire

No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet.
~ William L. Safire

The cowboy is the predominant figure in American mythology.
~ William W. Savage, Jr., Quoted in Criswell Freeman The Wisdom of the West (1997).

I know that Nature designs that this whole continent, not merely these thirty-six states, shall be, sooner or later, within the magic circle of the American union.
~ William Henry Seward

No man will ever be president of the United States who spells Negro with two g's.
~ William Henry Seward

For all its faults, American commitment and American sacrifice are essential to the world. As in the twentieth century, so in the twenty-first, only America has both the power and the optimism to defend the international community against what really are forces of darkness.
~ William Shawcross, Allies: Why the West had to Remove Saddam (2004). Chapter 6. The Right Thing To Do

Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically, by popular vote.
~ William L. Shirer, in The New York Times (29 December 1969).

The use of innocent civilians as a means to carry out this act was even more appalling. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, our resolve has been strengthened. This horrendous act has brought our nation closer together, not further apart, as I am sure this was the intention. America has a stronger will than any cowardly act like this can break.
~ Bill Shuster, Remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives (12 September 2001)

This attack on innocent Americans is unprecedented in our history. The full weight of the United States military should be brought down on all those responsible for the murder of our fellow Americans.
~ Bill Shuster, Statement On Terrorist Attacks (12 September 2001).

The rivers of America will run with blood filled to their banks before we will submit to them taking the Bible out of our schools.
~ William A. "Billy" Sunday

We tried that in America. Jimmy Carter gave us price controls on natural gas. Remember what it gave us? Shortages, shutdowns, a horrible situation in parts of the country where factories couldn't operate and people went unemployed. Price caps? Prices caps mean shortages, less energy.
~ Billy Tauzin, CNN TV "Crossfire" (17 May 2001).

America is a land where a citizen will cross the ocean to fight for democracy -- and won't cross the street to vote in a national election.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan

The average American is for the underdog, but only on the condition that he has a chance to win.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan

The conflicts raging throughout America on such issues as abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, feminism, race, and the public role of religion are over the emergence of new absolutes seeking to replace the old ones which used to dominate our country.
~ William D. Watkins, The New Absolutes (1996).

To those of us here today, this is General Donovan's greatest legacy. He realized that a modern intelligence organization must not only provide today's tactical intelligence, it must provide tomorrow's long-term assessments. He recognized that an effective intelligence organization must not allow political pressures to influence its counsel. And, finally, he knew that no intelligence organization can succeed without recognizing the importance of people -- people with discretion, ingenuity, loyalty, and a deep sense of responsibility to protect and promote American values.
~ (Director of Central Intelligence) William H. Webster, Remarks at the dedication of the statue of Gen. William J. Donovan. CIA Headquarters, Washington D.C. (28 October 1988).

Kansas is a state of the Union, but it is also a state of mind, a neurotic condition, a psychological phase, a symptom, indeed, something undreamed of in your philosophy, an inferiority complex against the tricks and manners of plutocracy -- social, political and economic.
~ William Allen White

When I came here, Sunset Boulevard was in the country. It was not even asphalted when I came here in 1934.
~ Billy Wilder, in Conversations with Wilder (1999).

Our task today is to make democracy strong.
~ Wendell Lewis Wilkie, Speech calling for an end to American isolationism (23 July 1941).

Terrorism is not just an exotic foreign phenomenon. We have a long history of domestic terrorism in the US, including violence inspired by racial and religious hatred, anti-abortion killings, even violence by environmental standards.
~ Philip Wilcox, Testimony given to House Judiciary Committee (25 January 2000). Terrorist Threats to The United States

The American dream, to me, means having the opportunity to achieve . . . because I don't think you should be guaranteed anything other than opportunity.
~ Lenny Wilkens

The players in this drama of frustration and indignity are not commas or semicolons in a legislative thesis; they are people, human beings, citizens of the United States of America.
~ Roy Wilkins

I think if you'd had television cameras at Gettysburg, this would be two nations today. People would not have put up with that carnage if they saw it up close.
~ George F. Will

If you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.
~ George F. Will

Pessimism is as American as apple pie -- frozen apple pie with a slice of processed cheese.
~ George F. Will, Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does (1983).

The gap between ideals and actualities, between dreams and achievements, the gap that can spur strong men to increased exertions, but can break the spirit of others -- this gap is the most conspicuous, continuous land mark in American history. It is conspicuous and continuous not because Americans achieve little, but because they dream grandly. The gap is a standing reproach to Americans; but it marks them off as a special and singularly admirable community among the world's peoples.
~ George F. Will

When America uses power, it makes people angry, but it gets their attention.
~ George F. Will, CNN TV "Larry King Weekend" (14 October 2001).

Hey I know where I come from
But I have a question
Shall We the People never come home
For after all that we've been
Are the dreams to come after?
~ Dar Williams, in All My Heroes Are Dead (1991 album). Anthem

I said to myself, "America, racists, economic exploiters, you sure have messed up now . . . because there lies the only one among us, the main one, who has tried to keep us calm. Now you've killed him."
~ Hosea Williams (on the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., recalled during a 1993 AP interview), Quoted in The Associated Press (16 November 2000). Civil Rights Leader Dies

No one anywhere in the (U.S.) government is standing up and asking "are we threatening world peace?"
~ Jody Williams, The Associated Press (13 September 2002). Nobel laureate Jody Williams urges Americans not to be silenced by patriotism

The closer a black man comes to the truth of America in his writing and speaking, the more quickly, the more positively does the nation's press close the doors against him.
~ John A. Williams

The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying, "Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses." She's got a baseball bat and yelling, "You want a piece of me?"
~ Robin Williams, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7 March 2002).

There are so many beautiful parts of the world . . . Thailand, Italy, the south of France. There are places in Spain that are astonishing. But here . . . 25 miles and you go up on Mount Tam to see the fog come in; 25 miles the other direction and you're somewhere else that takes your breath away. There's no question this is where I want to live. Never has been.
~ Robin Williams, San Francisco Examiner (4 October 1998). Robin Williams: Love in the Afterlife

We Americans, we're a simple people . . . but piss us off, and we'll bomb your cities.
~ Robin Williams

The common trinity of the world -- Profit, Preferment, and Pleasure -- will be here the tria omnia, as in all the world besides . . . and God Land will be as great a God with us English as God Gold was with the Spaniard.
~ Roger Williams

Well, if they succeed, it is pretty evident what will be my fate. I have done much to prosecute the contest, and one thing I have done, which the British will never pardon -- I have signed the Declaration of Independence. I shall be hung.
~ William Williams, quoted in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1839).

The elite remained limited by the outlook that had crystallized during the 1890s: organize the world according to the principles of the Open Door Policy and reap the benefits of benevolent and liberal empire.
~ William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1958).

The obvious is never obvious, nor the inevitable ever inevitable, until someone points it out or makes it so.
~ William Appleman Williams, in American Socialist (July 1957). The Choice Before Us

History, history! We fools, what do we know or care? History begins for us with murder and enslavement, not with discovery.
~ William Carlos Williams, from In the American Grain (1925). The Fountain of Eternal Youth

The pure products of America
go crazy --
~ William Carlos Williams, from Spring and All (1923). To Elsie

America today is capable of terrific intolerance about smoking, or toxic waste that threatens trout. But only a deeply confused society is more concerned about protecting lungs than minds, trout than black women.
~ Garry Wills, The New York Daily News (21 November 1994).

For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.
~ Charles E. Wilson, Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee (15 January 1953).

All Hollywood corrupts; and absolute Hollywood corrupts absolutely.
~ Edmund Wilson

This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large: this declaration must be made with the concurrence of the House of Representatives.
~ James Wilson, Address to the Pennsylvania ratifying convention (1787).

I can't see how not wanting to blow up the world is un-American.
~ William Winpisinger

I was a warmonger. I was concerned about Americans being isolationists.
~ William Wyler (on the U.S. getting involved in WW II, c. 1942).

You see that flag. . . . That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag still stands for freedom. You know it always will.
~ (U.S. District Court Judge) William G. Young, USA TODAY (31 January 2003). Judge to bomber: 'You're no big deal'

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.
~ William K. Zinsser, On Writing Well (1976). 2. Simplicity

It is one of the eerie facts of modern America that so many events occur solely for the communications industry and have no organic life of their own. They are non-events.
~ William K. Zinsser, from Pop Goes America (1965).