From Ralph Waldo Emerson:

America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race.

The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of man the country turns out.

From Aesop:

Better to starve free than be a fat slave.

From Marilyn vos Savant:

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ‘to’ and freedom ‘from.’

From Calvin Coolidge:

Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.

From Erma Bombeck:

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.