Norman Thomas Quotes

The Republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.

We're not really for anything but a better America, a stronger country. And we do support our soldiers.

The perseverance and the strength and the determination and the sacrifice that so many millions of people have had to endure to form this country is far greater than anything that we can really imagine.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

America is stronger than ever. We will forever remember those we lost on September 11, 2001. In honoring their memory, we will remain true to our commitment to freedom and democracy.

I have a very personal feeling about how special America is, and I know how precious freedom is. It is a sacred gift, sanctified by those who have lived it and those who have died defending it. My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called 'opinionated,' is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish.

There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and forgetfulness cause a nation to hesitate, to waver, and perhaps even to succumb. When that time comes, those who love liberty must rise to the occasion. Will you lovers of liberty rise to the occasion?

As long as every generation rises to its challenges and stands up in defense of liberty - as Americans have done in the past and as our men and women continue to do today - our nation will remain free and strong.

Patrick Henry did not say, 'Give me absolutely safety or give me death.' America is supposed to be about freedom.

The sacrifices ordinary American men and women from communities large and small have been willing to make, often before they were past their teenage years, have secured our nation unprecedented freedoms and made us the world's bulwark of liberty.

For more than two centuries, the defenders of liberty have put their lives on the line, because they have known that we cannot take our freedoms for granted.

An American is one who will sacrifice property, ease and security in order that he and his children may retain the right of free men.

My promises to the people for whom I have waged war have been fulfilled — to accomplish their independence and leave the choice of their rulers to their own will. The presence of an unfortunate soldier, however disinterested he may be, is not desirable in newly constituted states. On the other hand, I am tired of having it said that I wish to make myself King. In short, I shall always be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the liberty of the country, but as in the character of a simple private citizen and in no other.

Our liberty cannot depend on the good intention of those in power.

America is a country born from semi-mythologized blood, glory and acts of selfless patriotic sacrifice.

It is, in fact, precisely to defend the right to free speech that countless patriots have given the last full measure of devotion.

Good men died for our right to say whatever we want to say and use whatever words we want to use.

Got freedom? Thank a man, or rather, thank all the men willing to die so the rest of us can go fetal in our safe spaces if somebody hurts our feelings.

Most Americans take their freedom very seriously, but they don't realize that not everyone is free.

The Constitution of our country [was] formed by the Fathers of liberty... Exalt the standard of Democracy! Down with that of priestcraft, and let all the people say Amen! that the blood of our fathers may not cry from the ground against us. Sacred is the memory of that blood which bought for us our liberty.

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty... All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin... And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

Far, dearer, the grave or the prison, Illumed by one patriot name, Than the trophies of all who have risen On liberty's ruins to fame.

The principle of free speech [is] no new doctrine born of the Constitution of the United States. [It is] a heritage of English-speaking peoples, which has been won by incalculable sacrifice, and which they must preserve so long as they hope to live as free men.

No democracy has ever long survived the failure of its adherents to be ready to die for it.