July 4th 1776 Quotes

Would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. ~ Thomas Jefferson

O, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain ... ~ Katharine Lee Bates

The 'Little' or 'Barebones' Parliament, summoned by Oliver Cromwell to meet at Westminster on 4th July, 1653, after the dissolution of the remains of the Long Parliament, may have been an unpractical body, so far as the task of administration in troublous times was concerned. But it seems quite possible that the wealth of contumely and scorn which has been poured upon it was, originally, due quite as much to the fierce anger of vested interests against outspoken criticism, as to any real vagueness or want of practical wisdom in the plans of the House itself. ~ Edward Jenks

Just because you came here in 1880, 1950, whenever, you became an American. You get to celebrate July 4th like every other American. You don't just get the good part. You get the bad part, too. You get all of it. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

July 4th, (ie, time to celebrate our freedoms as Americans by eating hormone-laden farm animals and blowing shit up)
-Geena (Triple Shot Betty) ~ Jody Gehrman

I usually don't have a burger, a brat, and a steak but it is 4th of July. And I need the energy if I'm gonna start blowin crap up. It's what the founding fathers would want. ~ Jim Gaffigan

There was something melancholic about that symbol of their nation's promise of freedom, a bell with a chipped mouth and cleft body. ~ E.A. Bucchianeri

I thank heaven that the 4th. of July is over. It is always a day of great fatigue to me, and of some embarrassments from improper intrusions and some from unintended exclusions. ~ Thomas Jefferson

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

July 1st
It's as though everything stood still. There is no movement, no stirring, complete emptiness of all thought, of all seeing. There is no interpreter to translate, to observe, to censor. An immeasurable vastness that is utterly still and silent. There is no space, nor time to cover that space. The beginning and the ending are here, of all things. There is really nothing that can be said about it.
The pressure and the strain have been going on quietly all day; only now they have increased.

2nd
The thing which happened yesterday, that immeasurable still vastness, went on all the evening, even though there were people and general talk. It went on all night; it was there in the morning. Though there was rather exaggerated, emotionally agitated talk, suddenly in the middle of it, it was there. And it is here, there's a beauty and a glory and there's a sense of wordless ecstasy.
The pressure and the strain began rather early.

3rd
Been out all day. All the same, in a crowded town in the afternoon, for two or three hours the pressure and the strain of it was on.

4th
Been busy, but in spite of it, the pressure and the strain of it was there in the afternoon.
Whatever actions one has to do in daily life, the shocks and the various incidents should not leave their scars. These scars become the ego, the self, and as one lives, it becomes strong and its walls almost become impenetrable.

5th
Been too ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of the right choice. ~ Jules Renard

That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors - found the courage to keep it alive. ~ Barack Obama

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. ~ Thomas Paine

In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection," he stated. "Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered ... Do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? ~ Benjamin Franklin

My definition of patriotism is to defend your country with the truth, no matter the consequences. ~ John F. Kerry

We are not just any nation. ~ Henry A. Kissinger

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. ~ Ronald Reagan

In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude. ~ George Washington

A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master. ~ George Washington

The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government. ~ George Washington

July 4. Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so ~ Mark Twain

He's a fool who cannot conceal his wisdom. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. ~ John Dickinson

July 4th fireworks exhale over the Hudson sadly.
It is beautiful that they have to disappear.
It's like the time you said I love you madly.
That was an hour ago. It's been a fervent year. ~ Frederick Seidel

The 4th of July

Independence Day...
The day that we threw of our shackles...
The day that we became a nation...
A nation that soon became the greatest on Earth...
A nation that became a world leader...
A nation that became a world innovator..
A nation where dreams were fostered and became reality...
A nation of great minds...
A nation where inventors could make the impossible become the possible...
A nation that became a nation...
A nation that guaranteed free speech for all...
A nation that put people first...
A nation that welcomed those from other countries so that we could build our nation even further...
A nation that remembers past events because no matter how we try and hide the past, that is what has helped to make our nation what it is today...
So be proud of what we have achieved and what we can do together to make our future better for everyone. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible. ~ Adam Kokesh

The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history - the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you
to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The
principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. ~ Frederick Douglass

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Africans require, want, the franchise on the basis of one man one vote. They want political independence. ~ Nelson Mandela

One night I walked out of the church when the priest said that we should never have fought the Revolutionary war and every war was bad. It was 4th of July. It was an outrageously political statement. I just never felt right when people in the church would take these overtly political positions especially when I felt like I was a good Christian, I was serving my country, and I just didn't feel like I deserved to be lambasted by the priest on the 4th of July. ~ Wesley Clark

Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose. ~ Simone Weil

Happily for America, happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. ~ James Madison

My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States. ~ Harry S. Truman

The 4th of July is what Americans the world over celebrate.
They celebrate the birth of their great country, and of removing the shackles off from their mother country.
They celebrate being immigrants in a new home.
They celebrate being Americans.
Immigrants the world over dream of becoming Americans.
Don't deny them the dream that your ancestors had, but grant them the freedom that you have. ~ Anthony T. Hincks

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. ~ George Washington

He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas. ~ Benjamin Franklin

And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in GOD, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
Abraham Lincoln, in an address to congress
July 4th, 1861 ~ Abraham Lincoln

It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism. ~ J. Horace McFarland

For my part, I sincerely esteem the Constitution, a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests. ~ Alexander Hamilton

My early childhood memories center around this typical American country store and life in a small American town, including 4th of July celebrations marked by fireworks and patriotic music played from a pavilion bandstand. ~ Frederick Reines

In a government bottomed on the will of all, the ... liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all. ~ Thomas Jefferson

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. ~ Thomas Paine

It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it. ~ George Washington

Who then is free? The one who wisely is lord of themselves, who neither poverty, death or captivity terrify, who is strong to resist his appetites and shun honors, and is complete in themselves smooth and round like a globe ~ Horace