Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.

We didn’t crumble after 9/11. We didn’t falter after the Boston Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.

If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and lone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.

There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.

One thing I just want to say to the military families – while you might not wear a uniform, I know – we all know, the nation knows – that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor.

Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone – that is to unite behind the science and to act on the science.

I carry the flag of Ireland all the time. I want to represent my country.

Everyone, no doubt, remains first and foremost a man of his own country and continues to draw from it his motive force.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

I have warned many times about the guaranteed dangers of betting with your heart instead of your head – big darkness, soon come – but every once in a while you get a fair chance to have it both ways, and the annual NCAA basketball Tournament is one of them.

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.

You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

America is not just a country, it’s an idea, and real Americans are getting busy.

The American people are bigger than any president. I suppose I have faith in my country and in what it is founded on and the values we hold dear.

‚My country, right or wrong‘ is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying ‚My mother, drunk or sober.‘

The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation – not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.

Only Americans can hurt America.

I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.

I was a Marine for 41 years, and it wasn’t long enough. We enjoy putting on that uniform.

So long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve served us – because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they need when they come home.

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

I don’t know why they gave me a knighthood – though it’s very nice of them – but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don’t.

We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line. Don’t forget it.

No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

The Iraqis have become invested in their nationhood.

Whoever won’t fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

I’m a nationalist. I’m a patriot. Nothing is wrong. I’m a born Hindu. Nothing is wrong. So, I’m a Hindu nationalist, so yes, you can say I’m a Hindu nationalist because I am a born Hindu, I’m patriotic, so nothing is wrong in it.

I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.

I suppose, in a way, this has become part of my soul. It is a symbol of my life. Whatever I have done that really matters, I’ve done wearing it. When the time comes, it will be in this that I journey forth. What greater honor could come to an American, and a soldier?

While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.

Unfortunately, after Sept. 11, there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous.

In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them.

Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

I’m not an ambitious person, there is no ambition in my life. I have a mission in my life. And my mission is to serve my country. And when I am working for my state, it means I am working for my country, or my nation.

I think when the president of the United States calls for military action, he should do it for a united people, especially when the methods have been so cruel, so explicitly directed at Americans.

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism – how passionately I hate them!

We are a nation founded as a rebuke to tyranny. A nation of revolutionaries who refused sovereign reign from afar. Hear me – we’re a nation that says give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. A nation built on our differences, guided by the belief that we’re all created equal.

To Sun-tzu and the ancient Chinese, doing something extraordinary had little effect without a setup of something ordinary. You had to mix the two – to fix your opponent’s expectations with some banal, ordinary maneuver, a comfortable pattern that they would then expect you to follow.

The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.

Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

I know that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage – they like their plan and, most importantly, they value their relationship with their doctor.

When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.

I think I’m one of the most patriotic people that I’ve ever encountered in America. I consider myself a bedrock patriot. I participate very actively in local politics, because my voice might be worthwhile. I participate in a meaningful way – not by donations; I work at it.

Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

I believe with all my heart that America remains ‚the great idea‘ that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.

Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.

Tobacco exports should be expanded aggressively because Americans are smoking less.

Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism – and wars.