Quotes from figures who have shaped our country
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” — Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
“The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.” – Justice Thurgood Marshall 
“Liberty is for all men and women as a matter of equal and unalienable right. The establishment of justice and peace abroad will in large measure depend upon the peace and justice we create here in our own country, where we still show the way.” – President Gerald Ford, America’s Bicentennial Celebration, July 4, 1976
“Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood, No. 8, July 9, 1722
“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.” – Frederick Douglass, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston, December 3, 1860
“It is the citizens of our nation who must preserve our system of government, and we cannot forget that.” – Sandra Day O’Connor, Earl F. Nelson Lecture at the University of Missouri School of Law, 2009
“The magic of America is that we’re a free and open society with a mixed population. Part of our security is our freedom.” – Madeleine Albright, 64th U.S. Secretary of State
“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” – President George W. Bush, Sept. 11, 2001
“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.” – Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume I, Part II, Chapter 5, 1835
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” – President Harry S. Truman, Special Message to the Congress: The President’s First Economic Report, Jan. 8, 1947
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” – Martin Luther King Jr, 1963, March on Washington
“The essence of America – that which really unites us – is not ethnicity or nationality or religion – it is an idea – and what an idea it is: that you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.” – Dr. Condoleezza Rice, address at the Republican National Convention, Aug. 29, 2012
“America has seen tough times before. We’ve always known how to get through them. And we’ve always believed our best days are ahead of us. I believe that still. But we must rise to the occasion, as we always have; change what must be changed, and make the future better than the past.” – Senator John McCain, June 3, 2008
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr in Democracy, Secularism and Christianity, 1953
“If the society today allows wrongs to go unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority.” – U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
“The rights of the individual should be the primary object of all governments.” – Mary Otis Warren, Observations on the New Constitution, 1788
