Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The country itself is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of Spain... But what I am sure of is that there is not any gold nor any other metal in all that country

America is the first world country.

…we are confirmed in the opinion that the present age would be deficient in their duty to God, their posterity, and themselves if they do not establish an American republic

We have been told that…Britain is the mother and we are the children, that a filial duty and submission is due from us to her and that we ought to doubt our own judgment and presume that she is right, even when she seems to us to shake the foundations of government. But admitting we are children, have not children a right to complain when their parents are attempting to break their limbs, to administer poison, or to sell them to enemies for slaves?

A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in ... and how many want out.

Our flag is the symbol of America. I want you to grasp what America really is. It is more than marks on a map. It is more than buildings and land. America is a living structure of human lives, of all the American lives that ever were and ever will be.

She has a fertile soil, and genial climate; she has [vast] forests and abundant fisheries, unlimited water power, pastures upon which even during winter, innumerable flocks and herds can subsist, with no other care than the mere herding; and prairies which could with only moderate labor, furnish the whole of our Pacific Territories with bread.

Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word "impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible. A thing with them is no sooner said than done.

Can this new people, so advantageously placed for giving an example to the world of a constitution under which man may enjoy his rights, freely exercise all his faculties, and be governed only by nature, reason and justice — Can they form such a Constitution? — Can they establish it upon a never failing foundation, and guard against every source of division and corruption which may gradually undermine and destroy it? ... It is impossible not to wish ardently that this people may attain to all the prosperity of which they are capable. They are the hope of the world. They may become a model to it. They may prove by fact that men can be free and yet tranquil; and that it is in their power to rescue themselves from the chains in which tyrants and knaves of all descriptions have presumed to bind them under the pretense of the public good. They may exhibit an example of political liberty, of religious liberty, of commercial liberty, and of industry.

Drop a grain of California gold into the ground, and there it will lie unchanged until the end of time; ... drop a grain of our blessed gold [wheat] into the ground and lo! a mystery.

America remains the great idea that inspires the world.

There is no country in the world where the process of self-criticism and self-correction is more active than in the United States.

The West is the most American part of America....

Israel believes, when it comes right down to it America is the only big country that cares whether they live or die. That's why I can say, give up the West Bank, because the Israelis knew that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan river, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die, and I would.

America is not just a country, it's an idea.

This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.

Canada is not so much a country as a continental suburb, where Little Leaguers govern ineffectually, desperate for American approval.

… an America as good as its promise.

The revenue of the state is the state.

In America, the people govern.

If you want the American Dream, go to Finland.

Afghanistan fortunately is one of the richest countries in terms of water, mineral resources, location and human capital.

With 10 per cent of Nigeria's total land mass, 80 per cent of which is arable, Niger state symbolises the hope and greatness of Nigeria and has potential to feed the continent.

Any land will flow with milk and honey if it is worked with honest hands!

America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.