“The First thing that strikes a traveler in the United States is the innumerable multitude of those who seek to emerge from their original condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans are devoid of a yearning desire to rise, but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great magnitude or to pursue very lofty aims. All are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation.” FirstsStatesDesireUnitedUnited StatesConditionsAmbitionOriginalsAimPropertySeekingStrikesPursueReputationAcquireMidstYearningAmbitiousMultitudesTravelerLoftyMagnitudeRarity Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
“If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States - that is to say, they will owe their origin not to the equality but to the inequality of conditions.” IfsStatesWisdomAmericaPoliticsBlackUnitedRaceUnited StatesEconomyConditionsRevolutionInequalitySoilLiberalismBlack Race Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
“The tough-minded ... respect difference. Their goal is a world made safe for differences, where the United States may be American to the hilt without threatening the peace of the world, and France may be France, and Japan may be Japan on the same conditions.” WorldMayMadeStatesGoalDifferencesUnitedUnited StatesConditionsSafeToughFranceJapanThreatening Book:The Chrysanthemum and the Sword Source: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
“Whoever is writing in the United States is using the American Dream as an ironical pole of his story. People elsewhere tend to accept, to a far greater degree anyway, that the conditions of life are hostile to mans pretensions.” PeopleWritingStatesStoriesDreamUnitedAcceptingUnited StatesGreaterConditionsDegreesElsewhereAmerican DreamHostilePretensionStory People Book:The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller Source: The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller
“The growth of entrepreneurial classes throughout the world is an asset in the promotion of human rights and individual liberty, and it should be understood and used as such. Yet peace is the first and most important condition for continued prosperity and freedom. America's military power must be secure because the United States is the only guarantor of global peace and stability. The current neglect of America's armed forces threatens its ability to maintain peace.” WorldShouldFirstsHumansImportantStatesAmericaUsedIndividualForceGrowthAbilityUnitedLibertyClassUnited StatesRightsConditionsMilitaryUnderstoodHuman RightsCurrentsProsperitySecureNeglectAssetsStabilityPromotionEntrepreneurialArmed ForcesIndividual LibertyMilitary PowerGlobal Peace Author:Condoleezza Rice
“I'm not pro-war. But I think war has been the dominant condition of humankind, and peace has been the anomaly - certainly sustained periods of peace that profit great masses of people - and I think war has worked, even awful hellish wars: worked to staunch fascist aggression in Europe, worked to preserve the Union after secession in the United States, etc. Not always, maybe not often, but to say never is to reject history in favor of a wishful unreality.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensWarStatesUnitedUnited StatesConditionsPeriodsMassEuropeUnionsProfitFavorsAwfulPreservesEtcRejectsHumankindAggressionDominantFascistsUnrealityAnomaliesSecessionPro War Author:Philip Gourevitch
“We have no paupers ... The great mass of our [United States] population is of laborers; our rich, who can live without labor, either manual or professional, being few, and of moderate wealth. Most of the laboring class possess property, cultivate their own lands, have families, and from the demand for their labor are enabled to exact from the rich and the competent such prices as enable them to be fed abundantly, clothed above mere decency, to labor moderately and raise their families. ... Can any condition of society be more desirable than this?” StatesWealthUnitedClassUnited StatesRichLandConditionsDemandMassLaborRaisesPropertyMerePopulationFedsDesirableModeratesDecencyCompetentManualsLaborers Author:Thomas Jefferson
“Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity.” StatesAmericaPoliticalUnitedUnited StatesConditionsRight NowPatientCriticalUnited States Of AmericaPolitical CorrectnessCorrectnessTimidity Author:Benjamin Carson
“I was at Yale and I said to the poet Elizabeth Alexander, "I'm interested in the ways in which black health seems precarious in the United States." She introduced me to the term "John Henryism." And then I went back and researched it and understood that, woah, this thing I am thinking about is actually a condition that's named.” ThinkingWaySaidStatesSeemsBlackTermUnitedUnited StatesConditionsPoetUnderstoodYalePrecarious Author:Claudia Rankine