Orrin Hatch Quotes

Mr. Lincoln's elevation shows that in America every station in life may be honorable; that there is no barrier against the humblest; but that merit, wherever it exists, has the opportunity to be known.

Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their status. They didn't mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense - the idea that anyone can make it.

In a thriving economy, birth need not be destiny.

England is still a place where a naughty boy who comes from nothing can live his dream.

That's one thing you Americans take for granted, you know? That you can grow up, you know, not so good circumstances, and you can move. Just because you are born in rural Arkansas, whatever, that doesn't define who you are.

There is a fundamental notion at the core of American identity that, in this country, any little boy or girl can grow up to be president.

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

If there is a national, secular religion in the United States, it is the belief that America is the Land of Opportunity, that we are a meritocracy, that any kid, no matter who they are, or where they come from, can work hard and move up in the world: that their effort matters.

This is the place where anybody - like an African American kid raised by a single mom - can be president.

Outside of the family, education is the greatest determinant of social mobility.

I didn't necessarily grow up in a trailer park, but there is a brief part of that in my life. So I can make fun of it a little bit. I'm not too much of an outsider, where I'm just making fun of someone.

Now, as a nation, we don't promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.

Barack Obama was not born into wealth or privilege, yet today his is president of these United States of America. Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. He has walked in our shoes.

Everyone must have a shot at the American Dream.

I don't believe that the American dream should be reserved for those who are born into the elite or somehow have been given an advantage over others. My growing-up experience is probably the most important thing that guides my priorities and my work today.

Economic inequality is less troubling if you live in a country where any child, no matter how humble his or her origins, can grow up to be president.

In the States everyone aspires to be middle class. It's so engrained into the American psyche: As long as you work hard you're going to be rich some day. The history of Britain is that if you're born working class, you're going to stay there, although that is changing.

The son of the coarsest man in the country, if he attends to his learning may become President.

You’re twice as likely to realize the American Dream if you’re growing up in Canada rather than the U.S.

If any one idea can justly be called the American idea, it is that a child's circumstances at birth should not determine the station in life that that child will occupy as an adult.

There are people a lot smarter, a lot more talented than I am, people who've accomplished things I can only imagine. Often, they started from the most humble of circumstances. That's my message: freedom and opportunity. That's the American Dream.

You know, I didn't grow up in a cultured household. We were all highly intelligent, but we were common, simple people. We weren't activists, none of that.

The American Dream is that any man or woman, despite of his or her background, can change their circumstances and rise as high as they are willing to work.

That's the spirit of America, right? Anybody from any background can make it anywhere with enough hard work.

They don't call it the Italian Dream or the English Dream. In America, there is the American Dream. It was the first place to give people of any social background their dream. You can achieve anything.