America Quotes

All I ever wanted to be was president of the American League.

- A. Bartlett Giamatti

We seek the right to play our part in advancing the cause of national defense and national unity. But certainly, there can be no true national unity where one-tenth of the population is denied their basic rights as American citizens.

- A. Philip Randolph

It's funny because if you ever ask anyone in England to try and do a Beatles accent, no one knows what they really sound like. If you ask anyone in America, they would try and give it a go. English people just know their songs.

- Aaron Johnson

In committing an estimated 3,000 U.S. forces to join international Ebola relief efforts in West Africa, President Obama seems to be fulfilling the plans of highly influential progressive groups who seek to transform the American military into more of a social-work organization.

- Aaron Klein

The American people have no control over what the military does. We have no say in American foreign policy.

- Aaron McGruder

In America, people think being South Asian is still kind of exotic. When you go outside New York and Chicago and L.A., there are people who have never tried Indian food... they've never even tasted it!

- Aasif Mandvi

And as an American colleague said to me several months ago, he said, 'I think the challenge in Jordan - and, again, this is for the rest of the Middle East - we need to define what center is. And once we can define what center is to a Jordanian, then we can decide what's left and what's right of that.

- Abdullah II of Jordan

Abe Ribicoff believes in that American dream. I believe it from the bottom of my heart, and your sons and daughters, too, can have the American dream come true.

- Abraham A. Ribicoff

Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap - let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.

- Abraham Lincoln

Standing as I do, with my hand upon this staff, and under the folds of the American flag, I ask you to stand by me so long as I stand by it.

- Abraham Lincoln

'American Idol' opened up all the doors to where I am now.

- Ace Young

I have a cousin who is a spiritual advisor for Native veterans in Canada, so I'm very familiar with the history of Natives in the military. And growing up as an American Indian myself, the story of Ira Hayes is one that is often told.

- Adam Beach

The American dream always meant that anybody willing to put in a hard day's work could make a decent living. That's just not true anymore for people without at least some post-high school education.

- Adam Davidson

New York State is giant and has some of the most beautiful landscape on the Eastern seaboard. There is so much history in New York State, from the Erie Canal to the Catskills, the birth of American stand-up comedy.

- Adam Savage

If we would have had the 262 at our disposal - even with all the delays - if we could have had in '44, ah, let's say three hundred operational, that day we could have stopped the American daytime bombing offensive, that's for sure.

- Adolf Galland

For kids like me, being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior, or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish.

- Adora Svitak

The American flag represents all of us and all the values we hold sacred.

- Adrian Cronauer

I get a lot of dark scripts now. I don't wanna be stuck doing movies like American Pie. For someone my age, once you get started doing them, it's hard to get out.

- Agnes Bruckner

The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

- Ai Weiwei

I applied to American Repertory School up at Harvard at got in.

- Ajay Naidu

My rackets are run on strictly American lines and they're going to stay that way.

- Al Capone

We owe an historic debt to American Indians. They have a unique set of concerns that haven't been addressed, and I'd like to stand with them. Also, I'd like to get their views on immigration.

- Al Franken

I ask the American people not to fall victim to disinformation. There are no death panels. The Affordable Care Act cuts the deficit.

- Al Franken

We are going to have the best educated American people in the world.

- Al Gore

In 2003, I almost died of an intestinal blockage when I was on a mountain in Chile, filming a segment for 'Scientific American Frontiers.'

- Alan Alda

There is a paranoid streak in American life. Radio talk show hosts tend to foment that paranoid streak in American life.

- Alan Dershowitz

It's wrong, and it's racist, and it's bigoted to say that guns are quintessentially American.

- Alan Dershowitz

I was a typical American boy. I did a lot of outdoor activities, played a lot outside with my friends, loved to go the beach, liked to hike, boating and fishing, and I flew a lot of model airplanes as well.

- Alan G. Poindexter

Reagan didn't put anything off the table, if he felt it was for the good of the American people to tweak the tax system.

- Alan K. Simpson

No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I'm after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

- Alan Turing

Europe seems a little softer, but in America it's harsh. In L.A., where I live, it's all about perfectionism.

- Alanis Morissette

America's a very traumatized society.

- Alanis Morissette

I'm just happy to have some American readers - enough that it's a viable proposition for my books to appear there.

- Alastair Reynolds

I am not an African. I am an American.

- Albert Murray

But the Congress has made the determination that certain kinds of information can be protected even though the American people may want to have access to information.

- Alberto Gonzales

If today is anything like the typical day of the past 3 years, three American soldiers will die in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Taliban will get a little stronger in Afghanistan and the civil war will continue to be enhanced in Iraq.

- Alcee Hastings

It's crazy: the first black man to actually step foot in America came as a free man, as an explorer, with the Spaniards. That's something for me - as a black American, it gives me a little bit of pride because we were free and respected somewhere else before slavery became what it was.

- Aldis Hodge

As a reporter, I embedded for modest stints with American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. When I'm asked about those experiences, I always say - and mean - that we civilians don't deserve the soldiers we have.

- Alex Berenson

For value investors, General Motors is a tempting target. The company's share of the North American auto market has steadily declined for two decades, and analysts say the company suffers from weak management and unexciting cars.

- Alex Berenson

'Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream' is an intentionally angry film. How could it not be when the chance of an infant dying is five times greater on the Bronx Park Avenue than on Manhattan's Park Avenue just across the Harlem River?

- Alex Gibney

For most of the millions of people who watch TED videos at the office, it's a middlebrow diversion and a source of factoids to use on your friends. Except TED thinks it's changing the world, like if 'This American Life' suddenly mistook itself for Doctors Without Borders.

- Alex Pareene

In the '70s, Florida-style golf communities started to be built for America's baby-boomers who were doing well and taking up the game but couldn't get into exclusive golf and tennis clubs and were looking for a nice place to live and raise their families.

- Alex Shoumatoff

Yes, as an oppressed people, American Indians have this epic burden, but first and foremost, they're human: sometimes a mess, sometimes funny or sad, at times very wise, and other times not wise at all - a lot like me.

- Alexandra Fuller

An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say 'Gentlemen' to the person with whom he is conversing.

- Alexis de Tocqueville

It's a cliche, but Americans are puritanical. In their movies, they are scared of sex, but they overindulge in violence. I could have cut a G-rated version of 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' that would have pleased the American ratings board, but it would have been five minutes long.

- Alfonso Cuaron

I was born in Hoboken. I am an American. Photography is my passion. The search for Truth my obsession.

- Alfred Stieglitz

In general, taking soccer out of the picture, as an American living overseas, it's so cool, and I've grown so much. Now I can look at my life from a different perspective.

- Ali Krieger

On American TV, there just aren't a lot of female leads in comedy, especially at the peak of all the Judd Apatow stuff.

- Alia Shawkat

I'm sure we, the American people, are the butt of jokes by those in power.

- Alice Walker

I want every child in America to eat a nutritious, delicious, sustainably sourced school lunch for free.

- Alice Waters

I was a supporting character in other people's lives, which seemed right and familiar to me. I was also an outsider: English in the U.S., American in England, dogged yet comforted by that familiar feeling of alien-ness, which occupied that space where my sense of self should have been.

- Allegra Huston

Not only the Archivist alone but all who work for NARA are designated custodians of America's national memory.

- Allen Weinstein

In the real world, I see conservatives volunteering at adoption agencies, at churches, at bake sales and the local American Legion Post while the only charity a progressive sends is a smug sermon on fair share and what fairness is.

- Allen West

I have an American trainer - a bubbly Californian. I tell her, 'Welsh women don't run. We're congenitally incapable.' But she's got me up to five kilometers.

- Allison Pearson

And as you point out, for American families who struggle every day to figure out how do they pay, we talk about gasoline prices. That throws budgets into a real problem when you have budgeted really tight.

- Allyson Schwartz

When you review the Central American wars or other Latin American wars, you find that there were dictators and there were insurgents.

- Alvaro Uribe

I auditioned for 'American Idol' at 17. They told me, 'No.'

- Amber Riley

Alien - an American sovereign in his probationary state.

- Ambrose Bierce

I believe in the American Dream, because I've lived it.

- Ami Bera

You can't be an American without being related to other Americans.

- Amiri Baraka

In Chinese culture, it wouldn't occur to kids to question or talk back to their parents. In American culture, kids in books, TV shows and movies constantly score points with their snappy back talk. Typically, it's the parents who need to be taught a life lesson - by their children.

- Amy Chua

I paint American people, and I tell American stories through the paintings I create.

- Amy Sherald

I'm obviously an American citizen. My parents are American citizens. But I'm not looked at as an American.

- Ana Castillo

Hypocrisy needs to be called out in American politics, and the absurd has reached the point where it is just insufferable.

- Ana Navarro

America, thankfully, is not an easy nation to commandeer.

- Anand Giridharadas

Night raids are only the first step in the American detention process in Afghanistan. Suspects are usually sent to one of a series of prisons on U.S. military bases around the country. There are officially nine such jails, called Field Detention Sites in military parlance.

- Anand Gopal

The central thesis of the American failure in Afghanistan - the one you'll hear from politicians and pundits and even scholars - was succinctly propounded by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage: 'The war in Iraq drained resources from Afghanistan before things were under control'.

- Anand Gopal

The American people ask, and legitimately so, why should we carry the heavy burden to ensure international peace and stability. You also profit from it, so you should also take your share in the burden. That's Secretary Gates's message. I share that message.

- Anders Fogh Rasmussen

I'm not one of these people who say how much better American drama is than English. I find it mostly too American, except for The Sopranos, which I think is the best thing.

- Andrew Davies

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.

- Andrew Jackson

There's a whole generation in England who think I'm American, thanks to 'The Walking Dead.' It's an interesting phenomenon of being an actor longer than 25 years because you can tell what people know you from.

- Andrew Lincoln

You know, American citizens, I don't think, ever thought that the right to the pursuit of happiness did not include the right to marry the person you love. But for a whole number of Americans, gay Americans, that happens to be true.

- Andrew Sullivan

American businesses are struggling to pay outrageous, exploitive insurance bills for their employees, hampering our ability to compete globally.

- Andrew Weil

Tolerance, diversity, and inclusion are not political opinions. They are non-negotiable human rights - hard fought and secured in America.

- Andy Dunn

Money greases the wheel of American democracy and corrupts it all.

- Andy Dunn

There's two people I would say to try to go and watch who are probably the future of tennis. One girl called Taylor Townsend, she got a wildcard from the event into Wimbledon; she's an American girl. On the men's side, there's an Australian guy called Nick Kyrgios; he's 19, and he was the number one junior in the world.

- Andy Murray

When I started playing the bass, I became kind of fascinated by it and started investigating various styles of bass playing, and I was really struck with funk music, mainly American funk music - Stanley Clarke, Funkadelic and that kind of stuff. That comes out in a couple of songs like 'Barbarism Begins at Home.'

- Andy Rourke

I have two sons in America, and all they care about in Chinese culture is Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

- Ang Lee

First step: Build the wall. Second step: Let ICE do its job. Third step: Stop importing jihadists and welfare recipients. Fourth step: enforce e-verify to protect American jobs. Fifth step: prosecute social security card/ID theft/voting fraud.

- Ann Coulter

What happens is, illegal immigrants can run across the border, drop a baby, and say, 'Ha-ha, there's nothing you can do now. My kid's an American citizen.' Well, that wasn't the intent of the 14th Amendment. Americans would not agree with that. It creates a horrible incentive.

- Ann Coulter

How about 'anvil babies' - because that is what anchor babies are around the necks of the American taxpayer.

- Ann Coulter

I'm an American. I have constitutional rights.

- Ann Coulter

When I came to America from Sweden, Mother and I, we went to Chicago where our relatives lived.

- Ann-Margret

We would like doctors to listen, but the fact is, we better be ready to be able to talk to them. You're going to have to be an active participant in that conversation, so I'd say the American people are going to need ways of stepping up to the conversation.

- Anna Deavere Smith

Somewhere between a third and a quarter of all people living in America today were born between 1946 and 1965 and if you think you're tired of hearing about us, you should try being one of us.

- Anna Quindlen

The American way is to not need help, but to help.

- Anne Lamott

The top end are still making bucket loads while maintaining the illusion of the American dream: that if you work hard enough, you can make a fortune. Meanwhile, the working and middle classes have been hollowed out of the system.

- Anohni

Look at the American history of slavery. Can you say that hundreds of years later that has been eased? That pain has not yet been eased.

- Anohni

I grew up in the South, so a huge part of our American History education revolved around the Civil War.

- Anson Mount

American Presbyterians, as a whole, have already lost a large percentage of their population since 2008, in part because of the creation of the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO) - which formed in 2012 as a response to the ordination of out gay men and lesbians within the PCUSA.

- Anthea Butler

Is there a sharper commentary on American culture and the world than The Simpsons?

- Anthony Bourdain

Get up early and go to the local produce markets. In Latin America and Asia, those are usually great places to find delicious food stalls serving cheap, authentic and fresh specialties.

- Anthony Bourdain

Wall Street has been beset with problems. The cycle of greed and personal aggrandizement and lifestyle grandstanding is an affront to any American.

- Anthony Scaramucci

I think Amsterdam is to Holland what New York is to America in a sense. It's a metropolis, so it's representative of Holland, but only a part of it - you know, it's more extreme, there's more happening, it's more liberal and more daring than the countryside in Holland is.

- Anton Corbijn

Until the courts put a stop to it, public debate over same-sex marriage displayed American democracy at its best. Individuals on both sides of the issue passionately, but respectfully, attempted to persuade their fellow citizens to accept their views.

- Antonin Scalia

The American people have determined that the good to be derived from capital punishment - in deterrence, and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes - outweighs the risk of error.

- Antonin Scalia

My friends once told me I remind them of the main character from the American comedy series 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.' I thought they must mean a sunny, affable girl-next-door, but instead I was confronted with Larry David! Crabby, moody, perversely neurotic Larry David. And the thing is, my friends were right.

- Anushka Sharma

Spring has many American faces. There are cities where it will come and go in a day and counties where it hangs around and never quite gets there. Summer is drawn blinds in Louisiana, long winds in Wyoming, shade of elms and maples in New England.

- Archibald MacLeish

The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation.

- Arlen Specter

The focus of our public discourse has been on how American companies are competing with Japanese, German, and other foreign companies. What this allows us to ignore is how each of those American companies is really in competition with the families of the workers. That's the real competition.

- Arlie Russell Hochschild

As long as I live, I will never forget that day 21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the oath of citizenship. Do you know how proud I was? I was so proud that I walked around with an American flag around my shoulders all day long.

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

I think Americans are very patriotic.

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

As corny as it may sound, my true goal was to crack the Americana market.

- Arthur Godfrey

I believe, and this is perhaps too nationalistic a view, that the American style of acting puts actors quickly in touch with each other, so that their continuous presence in a company, as in England, is not absolutely necessary.

- Arthur Penn

It's the same game. It's baseball. National League, American League. It's baseball. I just come here and try to do my thing. Do my work and help the team to win.

- Asdrubal Cabrera

I always felt slightly grubbier than most American people.

- Ashley Jensen

There's so much in American history that has been hidden and shunned.

- Ashton Sanders

Traveling, I've met Ghanaian people who have seen me in minor stuff, but they see the name Ato Essandoh, and they recognize it as a Ghanaian name. They come up to me and are always so excited. You don't think about it, but they really absorb American culture.

- Ato Essandoh

And freedom is what America means to the world.

- Audie Murphy

We now enter a new age of American history, and the question to be answered is this: Will we restore the republic our forefathers created, or will we allow it to be annihilated by those who hate America, its history, and all it stands for?

- Augustus Sol Invictus

I see the American experience as being defined by the immigrant paradigm of rupture and renewal: rupture with the old world, the old ways, and renewal of the self in a bright but difficult New World.

- Ayad Akhtar

The best work of literature to represent the American Dream is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It shows us how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if you don't compromise, you may suffer.

- Azar Nafisi

There is a kind of misconception that Asian-Americans are not as American as European-Americans.

- B. D. Wong

I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and dignity they have earned.

- Barack Obama

Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, basic respect for public order, and the right of peaceful protest.

- Barack Obama

I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

- Barack Obama

And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.

- Barack Obama

The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to see the truth. In a democracy, letting the people know the truth is the essence of what it means to be free.

- Barbara Boxer

You try to do something every single day that will help an American or maybe someone overseas.

- Barbara Bush

America is addicted to wars of distraction.

- Barbara Ehrenreich

What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise.

- Barbara Jordan

The world must know that America holds to the highest standards of military conduct and human rights protections. Anything less is unacceptable.

- Barbara Mikulski

The Clinton tax increase - which was an increase in taxes primarily on upper-income people - not only made the tax code more nearly progressive, it preceded one of the most productive economic periods in American life.

- Barney Frank

What would be the nicest thing I could say about Newt Gingrich? He may be one of the great supporters of the humanities, because you have people who don't want to study the social sciences, because it's not profitable, and now Newt, as the highest-paid historian in American history, may be an encouragement to people to study history.

- Barney Frank

The difference between being a victim and a survivor is often a low level of situational awareness. You can't be a super-spy, watchful and paranoid every day. But I am more watchful than the average American.

- Barry Eisler

You know, when I did 'American Idol' the three times, I tried to tell these kids you have to tell the story of the lyric.

- Barry Manilow

Happiness does not come from football awards. It's terrible to correlate happiness with football. Happiness comes from a good job, being able to feed your wife and kids. I don't dream football, I dream the American dream - two cars in a garage, be a happy father.

- Barry Sanders

The American dream is still to own your home.

- Barry Sternlicht

While it may be true that the UAE has been an ally since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the American people know it has also harbored and aided some of the al Qaeda agents who were involved in that attack.

- Bart Gordon

In late 2003, the Bush administration reversed a long-standing policy requiring agents to destroy their files on innocent American citizens, companies and residents when investigations closed.

- Barton Gellman

Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.

- Bashar al-Assad

The Mexican debt crisis, Latin American debt crisis, the crises of the 1990s, the Wall Street stock market crash, and other events should have reminded us, and did remind us, that financial instability remains a concern, remains a problem.

- Ben Bernanke

History has demonstrated time and again the inherent resilience and recuperative powers of the American economy.

- Ben Bernanke

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have great universities. We have entrepreneurs.

- Ben Bernanke

I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions.

- Ben Cardin

I grew up with the Blind Boys' music. My family owns a music store in Claremont, California, called The Claremont Folk Music Center. I grew up with a heavy diet of gospel, folk, and blues because those are kind of the cornerstones of traditional American music.

- Ben Harper

I grew up with a heavy diet of gospel, folk, and blues because those are kind of the cornerstones of traditional American music.

- Ben Harper

I think it's that thing of growing up all the time watching American movies and listening to American music. It hits you in a way that's a lot purer because you are not in that culture that you're watching.

- Ben Mendelsohn

What does it mean to be an American? While each of us may have our own specific answer to that question, we likely can agree on the basic principles of America: freedom, equal opportunity, and rights accompanied by responsibilities.

- Ben Nelson

The corruption of the American soul is consumerism.

- Ben Nicholson

During the Great Depression, levels of crime actually dropped. During the 1920s, when life was free and easy, so was crime. During the 1930s, when the entire American economy fell into a government-owned alligator moat, crime was nearly non-existent. During the 1950s and 1960s, when the economy was excellent, crime rose again.

- Ben Shapiro

In America, you're just an American. You're accepted. It doesn't matter that you're of whatever race. If anything, I'm British, and that's it. So let's just get on with it, really.

- Benedict Wong

And by the way, a piece of news, Israel is the one country in which everyone is pro-American, opposition and coalition alike. And I represent the entire people of Israel who say, 'Thank you, America.' And we're friends of America, and we're the only reliable allies of America in the Middle East.

- Benjamin Netanyahu

You know, I'm just not going to get into American politics.

- Benjamin Netanyahu

As an American people, what is greatest about our history are the many times we have led this world away from hate, towards hope.

- Benjamin Todd Jealous

There shouldn't be any looting or anything like that. But we're seeing a lot of frustration, and nobody knows the answer. All of us are saying we need an answer, and what I'm saying is we need, all of us, a heart change so, as America, we can move forward.

- Benjamin Watson

Will Smith's acting reaffirms my belief in the American perfection.

- Bennet Omalu

I never thought about how I didn't have a cell phone or I'm in 2011. I was just so happy to be able to be a character in the 30s and there are these actresses that I really liked in the 40s, 50s and 60s in American movies that I've seen since I was a little girl. But you don't really think like that when you prepare for a role.

- Berenice Bejo

If you really look at it, I have done the 'American Dream' that people have died on boats to come here to live.

- Bernard Hopkins

If you're a lead singer, then you can't afford to be sensitive. On stage, everyone looks at the lead singer, even if you don't want them to - in America, they have those massive follow spots on you all the time; it does your head in. So, if you are a lead singer and you don't toughen up, you're in the wrong job, and you have to get out.

- Bernard Sumner

The problem in Hollywood is that they try to become the only kind of cinema in the world, okay? The imposition everywhere of a unique culture, which is Hollywood culture, and a unique way of life, which is the American way of life.

- Bernardo Bertolucci

Not only must we fight to end disastrous unfettered free trade agreements with China, Mexico, and other low wage countries, we must fight to fundamentally rewrite our trade agreements so that American products, not jobs, are our number one export.

- Bernie Sanders

Ted Kennedy will go down in history as one of the giants of the U.S. Senate and one the most accomplished legislators in American history.

- Bernie Sanders

I think the overwhelming majority of the American people know that we have got to stand together, that we're going to grow together, that we're going to survive together, and that if we start splintering, we're not going to succeed in a highly competitive international economy.

- Bernie Sanders

I see a future where American companies lead the world in the production of hybrid-plug in cars and electric vehicles.

- Bernie Sanders

What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.

- Bernie Sanders

For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.

- Bernie Sanders

I think the American people in many cases want to transform our energy system.

- Bernie Sanders

Do I ever think Gossip will be really massive in America? No, I don't think it'll happen - and that's fine. It's kind of nice because I get to experience everything at once. I get to come home and it not be weird, like in Paris or something. It is nice to be completely anonymous.

- Beth Ditto

The president has made good on a promise to ensure that the American people are not subject to overreach... and fulfilled a commitment to keep America first and focus on American jobs.

- Betsy DeVos

So that they can actually make it known to the American people before they vote what they're voting for.

- Betty Hill

The Indian context is unique. The market is very large, and I believe there is enough room for many players to innovate on different parts of the transportation business. That said, if somebody just brings an American concept to India, it'll only go so far. You have to build for the Indian needs and dynamics.

- Bhavish Aggarwal

I think for the U.S. government the Sandinistas represented a threat to their dominance of Latin America.

- Bianca Jagger

Yoga in America is a joke.

- Bikram Choudhury

American men are like women.

- Bikram Choudhury

America is a great disappointment to me. As I said in one of my books, other societies create civilisations; we build shopping malls.

- Bill Bryson

The reality of America is mass-market stupidity.

- Bill Buford

It is a point of pride for the American male to keep the same size Jockey shorts for his entire life.

- Bill Cosby

I am proud to be an American. Because an American can eat anything on the face of this earth as long as he has two pieces of bread.

- Bill Cosby

Reggie Campbell and Kathleen Goldsmith are participants in an American success story, the unprecedented boom of home-buying by African-Americans in the 1990s. Only he is black and she is white. When he moved into the neighborhood, she moved out.

- Bill Dedman

Public service and respect for ideas is a recurrent theme in both the American and Australian sides of my family.

- Bill Drayton

From the depths of the Pacific to the deserts of Iraq, more than a million American soldiers, Airmen, midshipmen, and Marines have laid down their lives for their friends, their families and our nation.

- Bill Flores

My family came from Spain in 1725, and if people want to consider me Hispanic, they can, but I didn't advertise that way, and I'm an American first.

- Bill Flores

I fully recognize we need to improve the path to citizenship, just as we need to value the hard work of folks who become American citizens legally.

- Bill Flores

We've made it crystal clear to the American people what we're against. We need to talk about a couple of other things - what are we for?

- Bill Flores

First I was a European-style player, then I was a downtown 'noise guy,' and now some people call me an Americana guy.

- Bill Frisell

When we talk about safety and security of the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly.

- Bill Frist

Americans want students to get the best education possible. We want schools to prepare children to become good citizens and members of a prosperous American economy.

- Bill Gates

They're pushing credit cards. They don't take Visa, but they do take American Express, or they don't take this one, but they take that one, or you'd better bring this one, or if you forget who you are, look on your credit card; it will be there.

- Bill Janklow

Conservatives shouldn't count on the Supreme Court to do our work for us on Obamacare. The Court may rule as it should, and strike down the mandate. But it may not. And even if it does, the future of health care in America - and for that matter, the future of limited government - depends ultimately on the verdict of the American people.

- Bill Kristol

American history has always had elements of what we now think of as Trumpism - Joe McCarthy, George Wallace, Father Coughlin. It's not as if these things haven't always existed, and they were powerful. The big difference is Trump is president.

- Bill Kristol

Yeah, I think that's sort of the American way. And it's also the Polish way, it turns out.

- Bill Murray

The only solution to the violence problem in America is a return to traditional parental involvement. This should be encouraged by every elected official. Also, the abandonment and neglect of children by their parents should have civil consequences.

- Bill O'Reilly

The traditional American family has always been the foundation for success in America.

- Bill O'Reilly

Saturday night at my house, I often trot out classic movies and force the urchins to watch them. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I think it's important to teach kids about American culture, and films are certainly a big part of it.

- Bill O'Reilly

I sound like an Englishman impersonating an American impersonating an Englishman.

- Billie Joe Armstrong

An isolationist America is no bloody use to anyone.

- Billy Bragg

The only time I would like to see was the 20s and 30s in America because I love the music and the style and the optimism, I wanted to see New York being built. I wanted to see all that, you know.

- Billy Connolly

I've worn down America.

- Billy Crystal

I'm not talking with an American accent. I haven't gone off and become Sammy Hagar.

- Billy Idol

Have you listened to the radio lately? Have you heard the canned, frozen and processed product being dished up to the world as American popular music today?

- Billy Joel

I'm no expert on American politics.

- Bjorn Lomborg

I'm not trying to be evasive, but when I say yes and no, I say 'yes' because there are narrow-minded people that won't look past the logo and 'no' because 'American Idol' put me in front of millions of people and I would not have a career without 'Idol.'

- Bo Bice

If I was confronted with some 20-year-old American hotshot, I'd hate him.

- Bo Burnham

For far too long the American public and business sector have kept their silence as civil liberties have been whittled away by statutory and regulatory measures.

- Bob Barr

Ever since 9/11, our intelligence agencies, as part of the 'war on terror,' have expanded their operations to include American citizens. I was 'terrorized' when I learned that the National Security Agency was intercepting information on Americans.

- Bob Beckel

The American people do not have the information upon which they can hold the administration and responsible agencies accountable. I call that a coverup.

- Bob Graham

Humor is so important to the American scene throughout history.

- Bob Newhart

American politics used to be an amateur sport. But somewhere along the way, we handed over to professionals all the things people used to do for free.

- Bob Schieffer

Since 'Huckleberry Finn,' or thereabouts, it seemed that all American literature was about the alienated hero.

- Bobbie Ann Mason

The white people should go back to Europe, and the country should be returned to the American Indians. This is the future I would like to see for the so-called United States.

- Bobby Fischer

My contribution I hope is to get people to eat full-flavored food. If I could come away with that alone, that would be a fantastic accomplishment. I'm also very proud of being a very American chef.

- Bobby Flay

I think the American people are looking for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America.

- Bobby Jindal

As we embrace the American dream and the freedoms it represents, we must also ensure that those who wish to enjoy those freedoms become a part of our society and learn to speak our language.

- Bobby Jindal

The world I live in is benefiting from things like satellite radio. Jazz and blues fests are everywhere now, and Americana is going strong on college radio. What I'm hearing is an appreciation of real music.

- Bonnie Raitt

I love American positivity.

- Boy George

In America, the only truly popular art form is the movies. Most people consider painting a hobby and literature, schoolwork.

- Brad Holland

Country music has become the music that best represents the reality of American life.

- Brad Paisley

Horsemanship and the cowboy lifestyle and my culture as a Native American are all three things that are very, very important to me.

- Brady Jandreau

I romanticize. I live with the ghosts of Elvis and Frank Sinatra. It seems so glamorous. They were American men who don't exist anymore. But there are ugly things about them, too.

- Brandon Flowers

General David Petraeus is an American patriot and hero.

- Brandon Webb

The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don't listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don't listen anyway. When people go to concerts, they say I'm going to see... not, I'm going to hear.

- Branford Marsalis

Graham Greene, as I understand it, was quite outspoken in his criticism of American foreign policy.

- Brendan Fraser

Barkley was the first of many American skyjackers whose primary interest was money; by 1972, the majority of the nation's hijackings would involve demands for ransom. Barkley himself was declared incompetent to stand trial in November 1971, at which point he was committed to a psychiatric hospital in Georgia.

- Brendan I. Koerner

A surprising number of American skyjackers were not yet old enough to drink or sometimes even drive. These adolescents were generally inept at planning their crimes, and few of their capers met with any success; most seemed to end within moments of starting, usually after a fatherly pilot convinced the nervous teen to hand over his gun.

- Brendan I. Koerner

Most of the American skyjackers who fled abroad eventually elected to return to the United States, having tired of life on the lam. These homecomings typically involved prearranged surrenders to the FBI, in the hopes of earning lenient sentences.

- Brendan I. Koerner

Jazz was the pop music of its day, and all American popular music has stemmed from it one way or another.

- Bria Skonberg

I don't watch 'American Idol' - that'd be like getting divorced from somebody and then hanging out with them.

- Brian Dunkleman

I think it's a myth that American public or any other public is so stupid that they need to be constantly pricked.

- Brian Eno

I'd love it if American kids were listening to Muslim music.

- Brian Eno

For the first time in American history, it's not clear whether or not it's smart for a 17-year-old to enroll in college. It absolutely depends on the debt load and the quality of the institution. That is a change from the way things always were and, frankly, the way things always should be. It should always be a good idea to go to college.

- Brian Schatz

I'm just interested in all of the different ways that a woman can be. We don't have enough, when it comes to American film, that shows all of the different complexities and ways that a woman is interesting and mysterious and dynamic and really complicated.

- Brie Larson

I love American muscle cars. It's my thing.

- Brody Jenner

Our American heritage is greater than any one of us. It can express itself in very homely truths; in the end it can lift up our eyes beyond the glow in the sunset skies.

- Bruce Catton

I've always thought that if Israel really wanted to solve the problem, they'd just start tomorrow and push right to the Jordan River, and anything in their way goes. They don't need America or someone else to help.

- Bruce Dern

The US military still blames the media for stories and images that turned the American public against the war in Vietnam.

- Bruce Jackson

In America everything's about who's number one today.

- Bruce Springsteen

In America, educators punish those who actually think for themselves. There is only acceptance for popular opinion.

- Bryant H. McGill

Sometimes, I pinch myself. Through everything, its about hard work... believing in yourself and in the American dream. Believe that you can make something out of yourself.

- Buddy Valastro

As a former NFL player, I am one American who will have nothing to do with any NFL Team that cannot find the corporate courage to stand for the millions of courageous past great Americans whose sacrifice gave meaning to our flag and national anthem and to the millions upon millions who still dream to come to its free shores.

- Burgess Owens

Dubois, later in his life, would join the Communist party and renounce his American citizenship. His 'integration at all costs' message would, decades later, continue to influence the community's self-perception.

- Burgess Owens

We're dealing with whether we're going to accept the idea of socialism and Marxism and atheism. Or go back to the American way, Judeo-Christian values, which meritocracy is part of it. The idea that content and character and talent are colorblind.

- Burgess Owens

American greatness was elevated significantly after Sputnik.

- Buzz Aldrin

I don't watch 'American Idol,' but I wouldn't call it 'undignified.'

- Buzz Aldrin

There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again.

- Buzz Aldrin

Is there decency left in American politics?

- Byron Dorgan

The most striking development of the great depression of 1929 is a profound skepticism of the future of contemporary society among large sections of the American people.

- C. L. R. James

The business of America is business.

- Calvin Coolidge

Where I come from, once word gets out that you've cooperated with the police, that only makes you a bigger target of criminal violence. That is a dark reality in so many neighborhoods like mine across America. I'm not saying its right, but it's reality.

- Cam'ron

Vancouver is more laid-back, pretty much what you would expect from a West Coast city. Miami is definitely livelier - the nightlife, the people, everything. It's basically a little slice of Latin America.

- Camila Mendes

I'm not more Brazilian than I am American or vice-versa - I'm very much a combination of all of those things.

- Camila Mendes

If Obama fails to win reelection, let the blame be first laid at the door of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who at a pivotal point threw gasoline on the flames by comparing angry American citizens to Nazis.

- Camille Paglia

I respect the astute and rigorously unsentimental David Horowitz as one of America's most original and courageous political analysts. He has the true 1960s spirit - audacious and irreverent, yet passionately engaged and committed to social change.

- Camille Paglia

Except for naval and air exercises, our military should be stationed on American soil, where service men and women can lead normal lives in close proximity to family and friends.

- Camille Paglia

I'm very pro-American - my entire family escaped poverty in Italy because they rightly believed in the American dream.

- Camille Paglia

Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage.

- Carl Bernstein

The great thing about Watergate is, is that the system worked. The American system worked. The press did its job. We did what we were supposed to do.

- Carl Bernstein

I believe in the American Dream because I have lived the American Dream.

- Carl Paladino

I've never set out consciously to write American music. I don't know what that would be unless the obvious Appalachian folk references.

- Carlisle Floyd

I think the country will get behind someone who comes from a working-class background, who truly epitomizes the American Dream.

- Carlos Lopez-Cantera

What I think we need to do to engage the American people in a conversation about entitlement reform is to have a bipartisan group of people who come together and put every solution on the table, every alternative on the table. And then we ought to engage in a long conversation with the American people so they understand the choices.

- Carly Fiorina

What I have said to people is that I've lived the American dream, because I have.

- Carly Fiorina

I spend a lot of time in American Apparel.

- Carmen Electra

I often say to my friends that I felt too Puerto Rican to live in the States; then I felt too American to live in Puerto Rico. So when I settled back in Puerto Rico in 1992, I had to come to terms with all of that.

- Carmen Yulin Cruz

It is the instinctive wish of most American businesspeople, even those unlikely to be directly affected, that General Motors not go bankrupt.

- Carol Loomis

I want to rebuild America.

- Carol Moseley Braun

A lot of American guys wear really wide legged jeans and square shoes. Then they come to Sweden and think my friends are gay because they're wearing 'really tight jeans'. It's called 'fitted!'

- Caroline Winberg

I want people to think of me as a nice person. I really am so blessed. All of this has been a great experience and I thank the American public so much for putting me in this position. I appreciate every second of it.

- Carrie Underwood

I think after coming off of 'American Idol'... people kind of expect you to just be awesome all the time, and we're still learning. I had a lot of stage experience, but it was in a 200-seat theater, you know - it wasn't thousands of people in front of me.

- Carrie Underwood

There were people who said the Society of Cincinnati in the American revolution, of which George Washington was one of the shining lights, was a branch of the Illuminati.

- Carroll Quigley

I'm not Mexican, and I'm not Central American. I'm from California.

- Cary Fukunaga

The U.S. is an optimistic nation. No candidate has ever won the American presidency by speaking primarily to people's deepest fears and by manufacturing a sense of apocalypse - that our leaders 'can't do anything right,' that things are utterly falling apart.

- Cass Sunstein

At least since 1947, the historical record seems to support a simple conclusion: If you want the American economy to grow, you ought to put a Democrat in the Oval Office.

- Cass Sunstein

I grew up in the Alps and France, and Barbie was my first exposure to the American woman. For me she was blonde, she was free and she was fun.

- Catherine Malandrino

We need to address the systemic structural issues within the VA - the misallocation of resources, the interminably long waiting lists, the bureaucratic inefficiencies - to ensure that our American heroes are properly protected the second they return home from war.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Far too many government spending programs have gone years, even decades, without being reauthorized, leaving the American people less able to effectively review, rethink, and possibly eliminate government programs.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

The American people, in their own families, they understand that you have to do that. You have to make the tough decisions. You have to get your budget. You have got to put it in order. And they expect their elected officials and their leaders to do likewise.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

The American people know that our economy is struggling right now, partly because of the debt that is impacting American families, hardworking taxpayers all across this country.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

It's going to take every American playing on the same team - and everyone trying to be the best version of themselves - to make America great.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

I've lived the American dream.

- Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Leaving American disaster victims to languish is morally reprehensible and un-American.

- Cedric Richmond

My Norwegian family says, 'You're the most grounded American we've ever met.'

- Celeste Holm

American history and the history of baseball are bound up together: our racial politics can be described and traced through it.

- Chad Harbach

I guess if you split the difference between the U.K. and the U.S., you would get Canada. But that's just due to proximity. Just because of distance, we get a lot more cultural spillover from America.

- Chad Kroeger

I've built a solid career there, but America's ten times the size. Now that we're onto the third record, I feel like the stars have aligned and American audiences are embracing my music even more.

- Chantal Kreviazuk

In the battle of Kunu-ri, more than 5,000 American soldiers were killed, wounded or taken as prisoners of war. Ninety percent of my unit was killed.

- Charles B. Rangel

Since the enactment of the War Powers Act in 1973, which I supported then and support now, Congress has been reluctant to assert its authority when presidents decide to send American soldiers into harm's way.

- Charles B. Rangel

Our immigration policy should be driven by what is in the best interest of this great country and the American people. Comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen U.S. security and boost economic growth.

- Charles B. Rangel

By requiring all 30 million Americans age 18 to 25 to perform two years of national service, in the military or civilian life, we will be asking for a shared sacrifice from all American citizens.

- Charles B. Rangel

As every American who has ever received a paycheck is aware, the amount of money earned and the amount actually brought home are not the same.

- Charles B. Rangel

China has legally purchased high performance computers, advanced machine tools, and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment from several American companies.

- Charles Bass

The American people deserve their government to be open and accountable.

- Charles Boustany

The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had neither a national army nor an organized church.

- Charles Eastman

Any of the social changes in American history are because people thought there was injustice. We have to show that this corporate welfare and cronyism is unjust - and that it's not only rigging the system so people get wealthy who don't deserve to get wealthy.

- Charles Koch

There is nobody who would want, in any way, to lose what Paul Volcker won for the American people by fighting inflation and achieving price stability.

- Charles L. Evans

I am shocked at the attitude of our American troops. They have no respect for death, the courage of an enemy soldier, or many of the ordinary decencies of life.

- Charles Lindbergh

As Realtors, you live and breathe the American dream.

- Charlie Crist

The murder of John Kennedy in broad daylight in the streets of an American city remains, to me, an unsolved crime.

- Charlie Pierce

That we are to stand by the President right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

- Charlie Sheen

Sure, I did a lot of things in excess. But if you look at the core, the foundation of what I pursued, what red-blooded young American male in my position wouldn't?

- Charlie Sheen

Undeniably the American art form, too. And yet more and more, we see films made that diminish the American experience and example. And sometimes trash it completely.

- Charlton Heston

I think people should look at learning about Native American history the same as visiting Washington, D.C., and seeing the monuments there. It's all part of the package.

- Chaske Spencer

I am especially proud of taking on issues most central to the health of our American democracy.

- Chellie Pingree

Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power. When these cries of patriotism drown out any logically based dissension, it is usually the American soldier that is given the order to carry out some ill-conceived mission.

- Chelsea Manning

I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican-I'm an American, I'm a human.

- Chely Wright

The suburbs are the American dream, right? Living in a nice house, having a good job, a happy family.

- Cheryl Hines

We're shooting for the title of hardest-working band in America.

- Chester Bennington

I'm a firm believer in karma. By doing good, good things eventually find you. I don't have an American Express Black Card, but I like to think that I would if I could fill it with karma points.

- Chieh Huang

I'm so used to America, used to the traffic in L.A., and I don't really feel it click with the Korean culture. But obviously, I have a Korean face, and I feel like that's just - you know, I can't walk around people like I'm, like, straight-up American. It's like, I'm Korean American. My parents are from Korea.

- Chloe Kim

I just grew up in the States, so I feel like I identify more with the American culture.

- Chloe Kim

The Indian cowboy is such a uniquely American contradiction.

- Chloe Zhao

What I love about America is not necessarily the American Dream but the fact that there's so much spirit of fighting to continue to dream once the dreams are broken.

- Chloe Zhao

The American people do not begrudge anyone his or her power until they start abusing it.

- Chris Bell

I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do.

- Chris Christie

Bowling really was a big American sport in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, and then it kind of died off in the '80s.

- Chris Hardwick

The American audience has really opened up to women being A.) funny and B.) kinda crude. 'Bridesmaids' is R-rated, and I think it was a major coup for women to have an R-rated comedy that did really well. Same as 'Bad Teacher.'

- Chris Pratt

I grew up in the '70s and '80s, at a time that I'd argue was the absolute golden age of American popular culture. Because not only did we have all of the fantastic new stuff in print and on screens, but we had a constant supply of everything that came before, as well.

- Chris Roberson

You probably know me as a producer for 'This American Life', a top podcast in iTunes.

- Chris Sacca

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

- Chris Squire

The speed of life that top American athletes have is boom-boom-boom, and I'm a lot slower. I look before I cross, you know?

- Christen Press

The American professional schedule gives players a six-month off-season, so many of us have become pickup regulars while training without an organized team.

- Christen Press

I have long hair because I'm American Indian. I'm an Oklahoma boy, and I'm very proud of my heritage.

- Christian Kane

I'm not an American but I have always had the outsiders' respect for the American people and the American way.

- Christiane Amanpour

A successful argument for a government manufacturing policy has to go beyond the feeling that it's better to produce 'real things' than services. American consumers value health care and haircuts as much as washing machines and hair dryers.

- Christina Romer

The beauty of our democracy lies in the American value of equality: if you vote, you have a seat at the table. If you speak, you have a chance to persuade others. A billionaire and a minimum wage earner have the same power at the ballot box.

- Christine Pelosi

By looking into more details of American history, we can make more sense of what's happening today.

- Christoph Waltz

American workers are first rate.

- Christopher Dodd

I used to wish there was a useful term for those of us who thought American power should be used to remove psychopathic dictators.

- Christopher Hitchens

The people who tend to raise antiwar slogans will do so generally when it's American or British interests involved.

- Christopher Hitchens

There is certainly a higher percentage of wit in British comedy than in American comedy. What always tickles me is the way in which people try to use their intellect to get themselves out of tricky situations but never quite manage to do so - much to their enormous embarrassment.

- Christopher Lloyd

One of my favourites is 'American Beauty.' Spacey is so good in that.

- Christopher Mintz-Plasse

It is a culture voice, but it is a very American culture voice, and I am very used to English culture voice. So I had to work like hell to flatten those R's.

- Christopher Plummer

Denys Cowan and Dwayne Turner's visions of Wakanda as an ersatz African Epcot Center opened my eyes to the unexploited possibilities; these men, both of whom are African American, together with writer Peter B. Gillis, created an African Asgard of sorts, and I just went, 'Oh, my.'

- Christopher Priest

One of the great, and largely forgotten, triumphs of American society and government has been how smoothly U.S. farmers and their communities negotiated the creative destruction of the early 20th century and emerged triumphant when it was over.

- Chrystia Freeland

If I wasn't a musician, I'd take up the law. They are the rottenest, wealthiest people in America.

- Chuck Berry

Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility.

- Chuck Hagel

Personal identity seems like it's just such an American archetype, from Holly Golightly re-inventing herself in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' to Jay Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby.' It seems like the sort of archetypal American issue. If you're given the freedom to be anything, or be anyone, what do you do with it?

- Chuck Palahniuk

Any party that writes off 25, 30, 35 percent of the American people is not going to be a winner.

- Chuck Schumer

Today, families like the one I grew up in still believe in that American dream. But as President Obama says, it's a make-or-break moment for the middle class. Mitt Romney's plans would make things worse.

- Chuck Schumer

Let me say this, to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little tiny, yes, porky amendments - the American people really don't care.

- Chuck Schumer

58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started singing, this war would end.

- Cindy Sheehan

I believe that it is my right and responsibility as an American to question our government when our government is wrong.

- Cindy Sheehan

We shouldn't deny the right of the minority to filibuster, but we need to do a much better job of making them own it. That way, the American people could figure out who is being obstructionist and who is willing to compromise.

- Claire McCaskill

I feel like there is a real lack of empathy - not just in American society, it's definitely happening in Britain as well - and it's heartbreaking that people can see something and not feel it.

- Clare-Hope Ashitey

We are in a world where most American citizens over the age of 12 share things with each other online.

- Clay Shirky

Every city and town in America would be bankrupt if they kept their books the way private-sector companies keep their books - because of the obligation cities and towns have taken upon themselves to provide health care for their retirees.

- Clayton Christensen

The financial doctrines so zealously followed by American companies might help optimize capital when it is scarce. But capital is abundant. If we are to see our economy really grow, we need to encourage migratory capital to become productive capital - capital invested for the long-term in empowering innovations.

- Clayton M. Christensen

Every city and town in America would be bankrupt if they kept their books the way private-sector companies keep their books - because of the obligation cities and towns have taken upon themselves to provide health care for their retirees.

- Clayton M. Christensen

In 2006, after 12 years being separated away from my family and then seven years knowing that they were dead and them thinking that we were dead, we reunited... in the most dramatic, American way possible. Live, on television.

- Clemantine Wamariya

I think the American people, understandably, have sort of lost faith in the United Nations.

- Cliff Stearns

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.

- Clint Eastwood

Jake Johnson wanted to make clear that he was the great American actor, not just the funny guy on 'New Girl.'

- Colin Trevorrow

It is true that as people, we tend to remember only the positive. With time, the grim details fade away, and as a species we survive on this notion. In our desire to gloss over the undeniable macabre parts of our American history, we forget. That amnesia manifests itself, especially when dealing with the plight of black men.

- Colman Domingo

The food I've liked in my time is American country cookin'.

- Colonel Sanders

The Declaration of Independence is that sacred American text so full of meaning and purpose and yet quite empty if you examine it and pull it apart because the words 'All Men' exclude a vast number of citizens.

- Colson Whitehead

Schools don't teach American history that well, especially a lot of black American history.

- Colson Whitehead

We were spending American blood and treasure to liberate the people of Afghanistan from one of the most brutal regimes on the face of the earth. That we would not use that moment to press for women's rights seems to me unthinkable.

- Condoleezza Rice

We must also recognize that the American Dream includes being able to provide and care for your family without fear of losing your job in the process.

- Conner Eldridge

One of my favorite modern American authors is Denis Johnson. I'm deeply inspired by all of his work - I rip him off constantly.

- Conor Oberst

At least 80 percent of American prisoners are grossly over-sentenced. The Supreme Court knows this, but shows scant concern for this human side of criminal justice.

- Conrad Black

Usually, I'll be auditioning for the third lead, and there will be Latina actresses, Indian actresses, African American actresses because it will be like, 'Let's check off this box. We have our lead white girl, and we need an ethnic slot.'

- Constance Wu

President after president has said energy independence is critical. But then you have the EPA tasked to go after American companies producing coal and penalizing them. You can't have it both ways.

- Corey Lewandowski

The richness of America is that we are diverse. We're not Sweden. We're not Norway. We are a great American experiment. And as soon as we start trying to forget race or turn our back on race, number one, we don't confront the real racial realities that still persist.

- Cory Booker

In America we have a Declaration of Independence, but our history, our advancements, our global strength all point to an American declaration of interdependence.

- Cory Booker

Tolerance says I am just going to stomach your right to be different. That if you disappear from the face of the earth, I am no better or worse off. But love - love knows that every American has worth and value, no matter what their background, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

- Cory Booker

When American citizens pull together, there is little we can't accomplish.

- Cory Booker

We have to protect the rights of the American people.

- Cory Gardner

Quite frankly, I'm running a campaign on the economy and jobs and economic opportunities for the American people.

- Cory Gardner

I'm just trying to touch the world and touch the people and just get good material. And show them that we can get it done. Just because you're African American, you still can touch the masses. And that's my goal. I won't stop until that goal is continued to push it hard to the world that we are the universal person as well.

- Cory Hardrict

You stuff somebody into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.

- Craig L. Thomas

If I have a name out there from this thing called 'American Idol,' I don't understand why anyone wouldn't use it for good. That's the way the world should work.

- Crystal Bowersox

When you see my performances, even people that you might have known, like Nicky Barnes in 'American Gangster,' you have to get over the fact that I look like Cuba Gooding, Jr. But once you find truth in the performance, if I'm doing my job right, you believe everything.

- Cuba Gooding, Jr.

If you destroyed the underpinnings of this great American sport, you are a hated, ugly, detestable person.

- Curt Flood

I was leaving probably one of the greatest organizations in hte world at that time for what was probably one of the least like, and, by God, this is America.

- Curt Flood

Gore Vidal has been a friend of mine for years, and he's one of the greatest writers in American history.

- Cybill Shepherd