Declaration Of Independence Quotes - Page 8

• Only the great generalizations survive. The sharp words of the Declaration of Independence, lampooned then and since as 'glittering generalities,' have turned out blazing ubiquities that will burn forever and ever.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Ubiquity, Forever, Independence

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1911). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Lectures and biographical sketches”

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• To say that there should be no immigration, yes, that is definitely contrary to the best values of America that were laid out in the Declaration of Independence and since.

  Tim Kaine

  America, Independence, Immigration

  Source: abcnews.go.com

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• If one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence came back today, he would not be surprised about what Americans were saying and believing and articulating in their public statements. It would all sound rather familiar.

  Samuel P. Huntington

  Believe, Independence, Sound

  Interview With Amina Chaudary, www.theislamicmonthly.com. June 17, 2012.

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• Today, on this day of possibility, we stand in the shadow of a lanky, raw-boned man with little formal education who once took the stage at Old Main and told the nation that if anyone did not believe the American principles of freedom and equality, that those principles were timeless and all-inclusive, they should go rip that page out of the Declaration of Independence.

  Barack Obama

  Rip, Believe, Men

  Commencement Address at Knox College, delivered 4 June 2005, Galesburg, Illinois

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• The dissemination of the individual's opinions on matters of public interest is for us, in the historic words of the Declaration of Independence, an 'unalienable right' that 'governments are instituted among men to secure.' History shows us that the Founders were not always convinced that unlimited discussion of public issues would be 'for the benefit of all of us' but that they firmly adhered to the proposition that the 'true liberty of the press' permitted 'every man to publish his opinion'.

  John Marshall Harlan II

  Men, Issues, Freedom Of Speech

  Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 1967.

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• The next step will be for the colonists on Mars to throw off the hand of the United States. There will be this wonderful historical irony. When the people on Mars write a declaration of independence saying, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident...', the US will be rather pissed off.

  Eric Idle

  Writing, Self, Hands

  "The Wired Diaries 2000". www.wired.com. January 01, 2000.

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• Once one accepts the premise of the Declaration of Independence - that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed" - it follows that the governed must, in order to exercise their right of consent, have full freedom of expression.

  Thomas I. Emerson

  Exercise, Government, Expression

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• Our example - and commitment - to freedom has changed the world. But along with the genius of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, is the equal genius of our economic system. Our Founding Fathers endeavored to create a moral and just society like no other in history, and out of that grew a moral and just economic system the likes of which the world had never seen. Our freedom, what it means to be an American, has been defined and sustained by the liberating power of the free enterprise system.

  Mitt Romney

  Father, Mean, Commitment

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• Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is a practical document for the use of practical men. It is not a thesis for philosophers, but a whip for tyrants; it is not a theory of government but a program of action.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Men, Tyrants, Independence

  Woodrow Wilson (1916). “Wit and Wisdom of Woodrow Wilson: Extracts from the Public Speeches of the Leader and Interpreter of American Democracy, with Masterpieces of Eloquence”, Best Books

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• Millions of Americans cannot tell you who lived at Mount Vernon or who wrote the Declaration of Independence - let alone the Emancipation Proclamation. But they know that to be a Benedict Arnold is to be a traitor of the deepest dye - someone who coldly betrays not only a sacred cause but every moral scruple along the way.

  Arthur L. Herman

  Independence, Sacred, Way

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• Wise statesmen ... established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity should look up again at the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Wise, Father, Pursuit Of Happiness

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• Women's roles are diminished for obvious reasons. It's the men whose names are on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and who were generals and soldiers.

  Cokie Roberts

  Men, Names, Soldier

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• In the United States, the Constitution is a health chart left by the Founding Fathers which shows whether or not the body politic is in good health. If the national body is found to be in poor health, the Founding Fathers also left a prescription for the restoration of health called the Declaration of Independence.

  Dick Gregory

  Father, Independence, United States

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• We have had in our nation a well-celebrated Declaration of Independence. But our success as a country will depend upon a new 'Declaration of Inter-dependence.' A belief in how much we need each other, how much we share one common destiny.

  Cory Booker

  Country, Destiny, Independence

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• I enclose to you a copy of the declaration of independence as agreed to by the House, and also, as originally framed. You will judge whether it is the better or worse for the Critics.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Judging, House, Independence

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1771 - 1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence”, p.217, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Thomas Jefferson understood the greater purpose of the liberty that our Founding Fathers sought during the creation of our Nation. Although it was against the British that the colonists fought for political rights, the true source of the rights of man was clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote that all humans are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . . . It was self-evident to him that denying these rights was wrong and that he and others must struggle to win what was theirs.

  William J. Clinton

  Father, Struggle, Winning

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• We must remember when we speak of the "negativism" of the toddler that this is also the child who is intoxicated with the discoveries of the second year, a joyful child who is firmly bound to his parents and his new-found world through ties of love. The so-called negativism is one of the aspects of this development, but under ordinary circumstances it does not become anarchy. It's a kind of declaration of independence, but there is no intention to unseat the government.

  Selma Fraiberg

  Children, Government, Discovery

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• The basic human rights documents-the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man-were written by political, not by religious, leaders.

  Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

  Religious, Men, Rights

  "The Opening of the American Mind" by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., www.nytimes.com. July 23, 1989.

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• The left think they've got a monopoly on this silly idea that we are a nation of immigrants, America's greatness is traceable to its immigrants. I'm sorry. I don't buy that as a stand-alone idea anyway because really what they're trying to say with that is that America's greatness is due to America's diversity, and that has not a thing to do with it. American Greatness is because of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and our country.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Country, Sorry, Silly

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• I'm in love with this country called "America." I'm a huge fan of America. I'm one of those annoying fans - you know, the ones that read the cd notes and follow you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds of annoying questions about why you didn't live up to that. I'm that kind of fan. I've read the Declaration of Independence, and I've read the Constitution of the United States, and they are some liner notes, dude.

  Edward de Bono

  Country, Cds, America

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• I like to be depressing. I feel it's my duty to make everyone a little less happy. You know that line in the Declaration of Independence, "the pursuit of happiness"? I've come to think that it has no meaning at all. You cannot pursue happiness. And to think that this bad little sentence has determined our lives.

  Jamaica Kincaid

  Depressing, Pursuit Of Happiness, Thinking

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• The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.

  John Adams

  Bible, God, Religious

  John Adams (2015). “The Works of John Adams Vol. 10: Letters and State Papers 1811 - 1825”, p.38, Jazzybee Verlag

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• The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity

  John Adams

  Father, Independence, Principles

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1856). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.45

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• Read the Declaration of Independence to your children as a tradition every Fourth of July. Make sure they understand why the word "pursuit" precedes the word "happiness."

  Jeff Bezos

  Children, July, Independence

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• A little righteous anger really brings out the best in the American personality. Our nation was born when 56 patriots got mad enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. We put a man on the moon because Sputnik made us mad at being number two in space. Getting mad in a constructive way is good for the soul- and the country.

  Lee Iacocca

  Country, Moon, Men

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