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See Also
See Again
© Getty Images
0 / 30 Fotos
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (1809-1865) - “I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”
© Shutterstock
1 / 30 Fotos
Susan B. Anthony, social reformer and women's rights activist (1820-1906) - “No man is good enough to govern any woman without her consent.”
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
William O. Douglas, former associate justice of the US Supreme Court (1898-1980) - “Free speech is not to be regulated like diseased cattle and impure butter. The audience that hissed yesterday may applaud today, even for the same performance.”
© Getty Images
3 / 30 Fotos
Keillor Garrison, author, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality (1942-) - “The most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.’”
© Getty Images
4 / 30 Fotos
Mark Twain, writer, humorist, and publisher (1835-1910) - “We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty.”
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Jane Addams, social worker and women's suffrage activist and leader (1860-1935) - “I do not believe that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance.” (Photo: Flickr)
© All rights reserved/Flickr
6 / 30 Fotos
Benjamin Franklin, polymath and one of the Founding Fathers (1706-1790) - “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Martin Luther King Jr., Baptist minister and civil rights activist (1929-1968) - “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
© Getty Images
8 / 30 Fotos
Harry S. Truman, 33rd US President (1884-1972) - “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
© Getty Images
9 / 30 Fotos
Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher (1803-1882) - “America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race.”
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Bill Clinton, 42nd US President (1946-) - “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
George W. Bush, 43rd US President (1946-) - “To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say: You, too, can be president of the United States.”
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
George S. Patton, US Army general (1885-1945) - “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Gloria Steinem, journalist and social political activist (1934-) - “Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father.”
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Charles F. Browne, writer and humorist (1834-1867) - “We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots.” (Photo: Flickr)
© Public Domain
15 / 30 Fotos
Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary War soldier (1755-1776) - “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919) - “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or 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.”
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy, 35th US President (1917-1963) - “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
Mark Twain, writer, humorist, and publisher (1835-1910) - “Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.”
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
John Adams, 2nd US President (1735-1826) - “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Jeannette Rankin, activist and first woman elected to the US House of Representatives (1880-1973) - “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Amelia Earhart, aviation pioneer and author (1897-1939) - “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist (1928-2014) - “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
Malcolm X, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist (1925-1965) - “Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American.”
© Getty Images
24 / 30 Fotos
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1743-1826) - “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
© Getty Images
25 / 30 Fotos
Eugene V. Debs, union leader (1855-1926) - “I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.”
© Getty Images
26 / 30 Fotos
Barack Obama, 44th US President (1961-) - “Americans ... still believe in an America where anything's possible—they just don't think their leaders do.”
© Getty Images
27 / 30 Fotos
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist (1913-2005) - “I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat, activist, and former First Lady (1884-1962) - “The American Dream can no more remain static than can the American nation.... We cannot any longer take an old approach to world problems. They aren't the same problems. It isn't the same world. We must not adopt the methods of our ancestors; instead, we must emulate that pioneer quality in our ancestors that made them attempt new methods for a New World.”
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 30 Fotos
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (1809-1865) - “I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”
© Shutterstock
1 / 30 Fotos
Susan B. Anthony, social reformer and women's rights activist (1820-1906) - “No man is good enough to govern any woman without her consent.”
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
William O. Douglas, former associate justice of the US Supreme Court (1898-1980) - “Free speech is not to be regulated like diseased cattle and impure butter. The audience that hissed yesterday may applaud today, even for the same performance.”
© Getty Images
3 / 30 Fotos
Keillor Garrison, author, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality (1942-) - “The most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.’”
© Getty Images
4 / 30 Fotos
Mark Twain, writer, humorist, and publisher (1835-1910) - “We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented, which was human liberty.”
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Jane Addams, social worker and women's suffrage activist and leader (1860-1935) - “I do not believe that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance.” (Photo: Flickr)
© All rights reserved/Flickr
6 / 30 Fotos
Benjamin Franklin, polymath and one of the Founding Fathers (1706-1790) - “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Martin Luther King Jr., Baptist minister and civil rights activist (1929-1968) - “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
© Getty Images
8 / 30 Fotos
Harry S. Truman, 33rd US President (1884-1972) - “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
© Getty Images
9 / 30 Fotos
Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher (1803-1882) - “America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race.”
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Bill Clinton, 42nd US President (1946-) - “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
George W. Bush, 43rd US President (1946-) - “To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say: You, too, can be president of the United States.”
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
George S. Patton, US Army general (1885-1945) - “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Gloria Steinem, journalist and social political activist (1934-) - “Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father.”
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Charles F. Browne, writer and humorist (1834-1867) - “We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots.” (Photo: Flickr)
© Public Domain
15 / 30 Fotos
Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary War soldier (1755-1776) - “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919) - “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or 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.”
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
John F. Kennedy, 35th US President (1917-1963) - “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
Mark Twain, writer, humorist, and publisher (1835-1910) - “Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.”
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
John Adams, 2nd US President (1735-1826) - “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Jeannette Rankin, activist and first woman elected to the US House of Representatives (1880-1973) - “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Amelia Earhart, aviation pioneer and author (1897-1939) - “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist (1928-2014) - “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
Malcolm X, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist (1925-1965) - “Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American.”
© Getty Images
24 / 30 Fotos
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1743-1826) - “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
© Getty Images
25 / 30 Fotos
Eugene V. Debs, union leader (1855-1926) - “I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.”
© Getty Images
26 / 30 Fotos
Barack Obama, 44th US President (1961-) - “Americans ... still believe in an America where anything's possible—they just don't think their leaders do.”
© Getty Images
27 / 30 Fotos
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist (1913-2005) - “I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat, activist, and former First Lady (1884-1962) - “The American Dream can no more remain static than can the American nation.... We cannot any longer take an old approach to world problems. They aren't the same problems. It isn't the same world. We must not adopt the methods of our ancestors; instead, we must emulate that pioneer quality in our ancestors that made them attempt new methods for a New World.”
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
What does it mean to be American? Famous historic quotes
“Give me liberty, or give me death!” changed America 243 years ago
© Getty Images
Great men and women are behind every accomplishment that we, as Americans, have ever achieved. Those Americans have fought, grieved, and sacrificed everything to get us where we are today. But fighting isn’t everything. Every great idea needs supporters, and these great American men and women have to convince those around them that theirs is a worthy mission. When Patrick Henry exclaimed “Give me liberty, or give me death!” on March 23, 1775 at St. John's Church in Richmond, VA, he didn’t just show his own passion. With his words, he motivated those at the Second Virginia Convention that independence was worth fighting—and dying—for. To help you celebrate the 243rd anniversary of these famous words, here are other quotes from Americans who knew what it meant to be American.
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