America quotes
9.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside america — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"America don't have no future! America's going to be destroyed! Allah's going to divinely chastise America! Violence, crimes, earthquakes - there's gonna be all kinds of trouble. America's going to pay for all its lynchings and killings of slaves and what it's done to black people."
"How come the Chinese can go where I can't go in America? Englishmen can come and set up a business in white America and do things I can't do.The Puerto Rican, Hawaiians, just about everybody can do more than black people and are more respected."
"And what gift of America to the rest of the world is actually most appreciated by the rest of the world? It is African American jazz and its offshoots. What is my definition of jazz? Safe sex of the highest order."
"What has been America's most nurturing contribution to the culture of this planet so far? Many would say jazz. I, who love jazz, will say this instead: Alcoholics Anonymous."
"Evil, what is evil? There is only one evil, to deny life As Rome denied Etruria And mechanical America Montezuma still"
"In America the chief accusation seems to be one of "Eroticism." This is odd, rather puzzling to my mind. Which Eros? Eros of the jaunty "amours," or Eros of the sacred mysteries? And if the latter, why accuse, why not respect, even venerate?"
"America exhausts the springs of one's soul - I suppose that's what it exists for. It lives to see all real spontaneity expire. But anyhow it doesn't grind on an old nerve as Europe seems to."
"The Spirit of Place [does not] exert its full influence upon a newcomer until the old inhabitant is dead or absorbed. So America.... The moment the last nuclei of Red [Indian] life break up in America, then the white men will have to reckon with the full force of the demon of the continent."
"As a result of the assault on Christianity, the Christian faith has been isolated more and more into a tiny private sector of life and removed from the whole public spectrum of America."
"From that viewpoint, America, free country, democratic country, so more opportunity. Still is more sort of Alive. This is my feeling."
"The Intelligentsia (scientists apart) are losing all touch with, and all influence over, nearly the whole human race. Our most esteemed poets and critics are read by our most esteemed critics and poets (who don't usually like them much) and nobody else takes any notice. An increasing number of highly literate people simply ignore what the 'Highbrows' are doing. It says nothing to them. The Highbrows in return ignore and insult them."
"Our atmosphere can't tell the difference between emissions from an Asian factory, the exhaust from a North American SUV, or deforestation in South America or Africa."
"America is, is no longer, uh, what it, uh, could be, uh, what it was once was, uh, and I say to myself, uh, I don't want that future, uh, for my children."
"There's nothing that America can't handle if we actually look squarely at the problem. ...Change depends on our actions."
"The time to fix our broken immigration system is now... We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace... But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America... Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should."
"For all the noise and anger that too often surrounds the immigration debate, America has nothing to fear from today's immigrants. They have come here for the same reason that families have always come here-for the hope that in America, they could build a better life for themselves and their families. Like the waves of immigrants that came before them and the Hispanic Americans whose families have been here for generations, the recent arrival of Latino immigrants will only enrich our country."
"The young are going to be the messengers of this continued strengthening of the diversity in America."
"No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship."
"America, now is not the time for small plans."
"We know that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow. This is an edge America cannot surrender."
