A Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with A. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Americans oppose Obamacare because they understand that it is inconsistent with our liberties and our idea of limited government and that it will destroy the best health care system in the world.”
“Americans ought to be the best-traveled, most cosmopolitan people on earth, not only because experience of the world is desirable in its own right, but because as a people acquires a great concentration of power, worldliness becomes a moral imperative.”
Source: The feminine eye
“Americans owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands. Thus democracy throws [a man] back forever upon himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart.”
“Americans, particularly in a group, are often perceived overseas as loud, even crass. Perhaps they simply have no worries about being overheard. For them, the basic assumption is that nothing you say will offend anyone. We Asians think that opening our mouths always risks offending somebody. Both sides are in danger of being misunderstood as a consequence.”
Source: An Unexpected Journey: Path to the Presidency
“Americans pay up to 1,000 percent more to fill their prescriptions than consumers in other countries - that is an alarming statistic.”
“Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war.”
“Americans practice different faiths in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. And many good people practice no faith at all.”
“Americans reading the paper, listening to the news every single day, and all you hear is things are getting worse and worse. And that has a psychological effect on consumer confidence. That's what consumer confidence is.”
“Americans really don't know much about chess. But I think when I beat Spassky, that Americans will take a greater interest in chess. Americans like winners.”
“Americans really don't understand the Japanese nature, but it's not an easy thing to understand.”
“Americans refused to see accidents as accidental. They did not comprehend they while tragedy always exacts a formidable price, it rarely incurs a debt.”
Source: And the Dark Sacred Night
“Americans relate all effort, all work, and all of life itself to the dollar. Their talk is of nothing but dollars.”
Source: Noblesse oblige: an enquiry into the identifiable characteristics of the English aristocracy
“Americans resent the vagaries of weather to a degree unknown to other peoples. ... Weather is a force we have lost touch with. We feel entitled to dominate it, like everything else in the environment, and when we can't are more panic-stricken than primitives who know that when nature is out of control they can only pray to the gods.”
“Americans respect talent only insofar as it leads to fame, and we reserve our most fervent admiration for famous people who destroy their lives as well as their talent. The fatal flaws of Elvis, Judy, and Marilyn register much higher on our national applause meter than their living achievements. In Amerca, talent is merely a tool for becoming famous in life so you can become more famous in death - where all are equal.”
“Americans revere both the Constitution and an independent Court that applies the document's provisions. The Court has done many excellent things in our history, and few people are willing to see its power broken. The difficulty with all proposals to respond to the Court when it behaves unconstitutionally is that they would create a power to destroy the Court's essential work as well.”
Source: The Tempting of America
“Americans rightly asked, if this is the way our government responds to a natural disaster it knew about days in advance, how would it respond to a surprise terrorist attack? How would it respond to an earthquake?”
“Americans rouse - be unanimous, be virtuous, be firm, exert your courage, trust in Heaven, and nobly defy the enemies both of God and man!”
Source: The works of Alexander Hamilton: containing his correspondence, and his political and official writings, exclusive of the Federalist, civil and military
“Americans sadly, are the #1 consumers worldwide. We drive the market. American citizens. That struck me - like a lightning bolt! And that probably was as impactful in terms of me having a strong desire to take action as anything.”
“Americans seem sometimes to believe that if you are a thinker you must be a frowning bore, because thinking is so dam serious.”
“Americans seem to be living in a state of fear about the world, one that just keeps intensifying. I mean, look at our cars and homes. They've become these massive barricades. Look at what we watch on TV and in the movies - it's all a bunch of violent ideation. And all these TV shows about dead bodies.”
“Americans seem to be oblivious to the immense dangers that a largely fictitious health and safety law enforcement system creates in industry.”
“Americans seem to want the product, at the cheapest possible price, while objecting loudly to its harvest.”
“Americans shocked me by their behavior and their narrow-mindedness.”
“Americans should be free to recognize our religious heritage; doing that is not the same as creating a government-sponsored religion.”
“Americans should be receiving one plate a day of hot food. That's not too much to ask in America. An MRE is very expensive for the American taxpayer. A hot meal is more affordable, it's cheaper. It's what people really need, it's what people really want. They feel all of a sudden that you are caring for them, that America is caring for them.”
“Americans should know that Iranians are just as decent, human and rational as other human beings. Sadly, the mainstream media in the U.S. regularly fails to recognize and reflect this.”
“Americans should know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.”
“Americans should never come to Europe,' she said, and tried to laugh and began to cry, 'it means they never can be happy again. What's the good of an American who isn't happy? Happiness was all we had.”
“Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United States has produced. We're different people from you and we're different people because of you. Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is effected by every twitch and grunt. It should not therefore be expected that this kind of nation, this Canada, should project itself as a mirror image of the United States.”
“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.”
“Americans should tremble before suggesting that any fellow citizen lacks patriotism.”
“Americans shouldn't start a military attack, and they shouldn't bombard Iran, and they shouldn't interfere with the internal affairs of the country. And the Americans should pay more attention to the human right issues in Iran.”
“Americans sometimes say to me that they have no class system themselves. All human beings have class systems. It can be based on a different thing in a different country, but the thing about breeding is, you can't buy it. You can't buy class.”
“Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases 'biggest in the world,' 'finest in the world,' are on all lips.”
Source: A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
“Americans spend 3 billion hours per year filling out tax forms and keeping tax records.”
“Americans spend 6 billion hours a year filling out their tax reforms.”
“Americans spend about 6 billion hours a year collecting the data and filling out the forms. We spend $10 billion to H&R Block and other preparers. And on top of that, $2 billion in tax preparation software, which still takes hours of work. It's outrageous the burden we put on people, and guess what, you go to Europe, you go to Japan, it's 15 minutes and costs nothing.”
“Americans spend more money on Botox, face lifts and tummy tucks than on the age-old scourges of polio, small pox and malaria.”
“Americans spend more money on music than on sex or prescription drugs”
Source: This Is Your Brain On Music: Understanding a Human Obsession
“Americans spend more on beer than they do on books. No wonder their stomachs are bigger than their brains.”
“Americans spend much of their adult lives paying taxes in various forms. We should end this practice of paying a tax that is triggered only by debt.”
“Americans stick their nose where it doesn't belong more than Cyrano de Bergerac giving head.”
“Americans still believe they are cut out to be successful-in everything: love, love-making, luck, luck-giving, money-making, sense-making, cancer-avoiding, clothes-wearing, car-driving, and so on.”
Source: I used to believe I had forever, now I'm not so sure
“Americans suffer from mono-lingual myopia - a disease of the tongue that affects the vision.”
“Americans talked about voters the same way Russians talked about Stalin. They had to be obeyed.”
Source: Winter of the World
“Americans tend not to be too enthusiastic about having their taxes raised again....But if the American people aren't going to accept it, if the politicians don't have the courage to raise taxes, what are we facing down the road?”
“Americans tend not to distinguish between political rhetoric and real intentions, which can lead to great misunderstanding.”
“Americans tend to believe they can do anything with or without any training or experience.”
“Americans tend to endorse the use of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia when the question is abstract and hypothetical.”
“Americans tend to think that korma is the curry of choice for the Caucasian, and it is if you’re a white guy with no balls”
Source: Nobody Asked Me, But ....