• “I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

• “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”― John F. Kennedy

• “What’s right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity – intellect and resources – to do some thing about them.” ― Henry Ford II

• “Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.” ― Calvin Coolidge

• “…Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country.
  He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.
  He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.
  He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march.
  He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient.
  …He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.
  If you’re thirsty, he’ll share his water with you; if you are hungry, food. He’ll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.
  He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.
  He can save your life-or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.
  He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to “square-away” those around him who haven’t bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking.
  …Just as did his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over two hundred years.
  He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.
  Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.
  And now we have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to war when our nation calls us to do so.
  As you go to bed tonight, remember this. A short lull, a little shade, and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.” ― Sarah Palin, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag

• “America – a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.” ― Herbert Hoover

• “A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.” ― Henry Ward Beecher

MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE
“My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father’s God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.”
― Samuel Francis Smith