Agonies and Inspired

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shinning sea!
- Katherine Lee Bates, America The Beautiful.

America has never forgotten - and will never forget - the nobler things that brought her into being and that light her path.... - Bernard Baruch.

It is a noble land that God has given us: a land that can feed and clothe the world; a land whose coastlines would enclose half the countries of Europe; a land set like a sentinel between two imperial oceans of the globe. - Albert J. Beveridge.

Un-American, adj. Wicked, intolerable, heathenish. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1911.

America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered. - Louis D. Brandeis.

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others. - William Jennings Bryan.

America excites an admiration which must be felt on the spot to be understood. - James Bryce.

Almighty god, the American people render thanksgiving and praise for the new era of civilization brought forth upon this continent.
Centuries of tyrannical oppression sent to these shores, God-fearing men to seek in freedom the guidance of the benevolent hand in the progress toward wisdom, goodness toward men, and piety toward god. - William Andrew Burkett, America’s Glorious History.

Holding no fear of the economic and political, chaotic clouds hovering over the earth, the consecrated Americans dedicate this nation before God, to exalt righteousness and to maintain mankind’s constituted liberties so long as the earth shall endure. - William Andrew Burkett, America’s Glorious History.

There is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. - Edmund Burke, Conciliation With America, 1775.

Nothing less will content me, than whole America. - Edmund Burke.

This is America: the knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC, Holy Name â€" a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky. - George Bush.

I see America as the leader, a unique nation with a special role in the world. - George Bush, Acceptance speech, Republican National Convention, August 18, 1988.

America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world. - George Bush, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1989.

History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

September the 11th brought out the best in America, and the best in this Congress. And I join the American people in applauding your unity and resolve. Now Americans deserve to have this same spirit directed toward addressing problems here at home. I'm a proud member of my party -- yet as we act to win the war, protect our people, and create jobs in America, we must act, first and foremost, not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

America will lead by defending liberty and justice because they are right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

For many Americans, these four months have brought sorrow, and pain that will never completely go away. Every day a retired firefighter returns to Ground Zero, to feel closer to his two sons who died there. At a memorial in New York, a little boy left his football with a note for his lost father: Dear Daddy, please take this to heaven. I don't want to play football until I can play with you again some day. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

The American flag flies again over our embassy in Kabul. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

During these last few months, I've been humbled and privileged to see the true character of this country in a time of testing. Our enemies believed America was weak and materialistic, that we would splinter in fear and selfishness. They were as wrong as they are evil. The American people have responded magnificently, with courage and compassion, strength and resolve. As I have met the heroes, hugged the families, and looked into the tired faces of rescuers, I have stood in awe of the American people. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our Union has never been stronger. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

For too long our culture has said, "If it feels good, do it." Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: "Let's roll." In the sacrifice of soldiers, the fierce brotherhood of firefighters, and the bravery and generosity of ordinary citizens, we have glimpsed what a new culture of responsibility could look like. We want to be a nation that serves goals larger than self. We've been offered a unique opportunity, and we must not let this moment pass. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

None of us would ever wish the evil that was done on September the 11th. Yet after America was attacked, it was as if our entire country looked into a mirror and saw our better selves. We were reminded that we are citizens, with obligations to each other, to our country, and to history. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

Homeland security will make America not only stronger, but, in many ways, better. Knowledge gained from bioterrorism research will improve public health. Stronger police and fire departments will mean safer neighborhoods. Stricter border enforcement will help combat illegal drugs. (Applause.) And as government works to better secure our homeland, America will continue to depend on the eyes and ears of alert citizens. - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

Every nation should know that, for America, the war on terror is not just a policy, it's a pledge. I will not relent in this struggle for the freedom and security of my country and the civilized world. - President George W. Bush, Remarks by the President on the Six-Month Anniversary of the September 11th Attacks The South Lawn, March 11, 2002.

Yet we are a different nation today -- sadder and stronger, less innocent and more courageous, more appreciative of life, and for many who serve our country, more willing to risk life in a great cause. - President George W. Bush, Address to the Nation, The Cross Hall, June 6, 2002.

History has called our nation into action. History has placed a great challenge before us: Will America -- with our unique position and power -- blink in the face of terror, or will we lead to a freer, more civilized world? There's only one answer: This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace and freedom. - President George W. Bush, Address to the Nation, The Cross Hall, June 6, 2002.

Our American values are not luxuries but necessities â€" not the salt in our bread but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad - greater than the bounty our material blessings. - Jimmy Carter, Farewell Address, January 14, 1981.

Silly people, and there were many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be United. - Winston Churchill.

Never again let us hear the taunt that money is the ruling thought or power in the hearts of the American democracy. The Lend and Lease Bill must be regarded without question as the most unsordid act in the whole of recorded history. - Winston Churchill, speech, Mansion House, London, November 10, 1941.

The price of Greatness is responsibility. If the people of the United States had continued in a mediocre station, struggling with the wilderness, absorbed in their own affairs and a factor of no consequence in the movement of the world, they might have remained forgotten and undisturbed beyond their own protecting oceans: but one cannot rise to be in many ways the leading community in the civilized world without being involved in its problems, without being convulsed by its agonies and inspired by its causes. - Winston Churchill, speech, Guildhall, London,June 30, 1943.

Nor should it be supposed as you would imagine, to read some of the Left-wing newspaper, that all Americans are multi-millionaires of Wall Street. If they were all multi-millionaires that would be no reason for condemning a system which has produced such material results. - Winston Churchill, speech, Royal Albert Hall, London, April 21, 1948.

We have reached a hillside from whose top the future of America may be viewed. But who can ascend it without a feeling of doubt and terror? Is it to be the America which all of us loved to paint in our boyish days â€" free, happy and prosperous, inculcating by its precepts, and enforcing by its example, a deep love of law and order; offering a refuge and asylum to the fugitive from oppression; cultivating with assiduous care the arts of peace, and illustrating all the mild beauties of Christianity? Or is it to be that America which "progress," "manifest destiny," and "overruling necessity," are now seeking to make it, where freedom will be lost amid the clash of arms, and the wail of every good spirit will rise above the crushed and broken hope of man's capacity to govern himself?.... Our country is at the stake, and he who loves it as he ought should pause and ponder long and well before tampering, in any way, with so high and holy a trust. - Jeremiah Clemens, Speech in the U.S. Senate, February 7, 1853.

by Aodai