#america

No angel born in hell could break that satan's spell. ↗

— Don McLean

#don-mclean #music #music

Song for the Puberty Rite of a Girl Named Cowaka: A poor man takes the songs in his hand And drops them near the place where the sun sets. See, Cowaka, run to them and take them in your hand, And place them under the sunset. ↗

— Frances Densmore

#old-songs #path #music

Of all America’s natural resources, its richest is an inexhaustible vein of irony. ↗

— Markham Shaw Pyle

#american-history #history #nature

How do you and your mother manage to get your hair exactly the same shade? It's uncanny." "I'll have you know, I'm a natural blonde!" "How could I know that? You wouldn't let me turn the lights on. ↗

— Kara Lennox

#harlequin #series #nature

Who but the sports-mad [Norman] Mailer would liken the battle between God and the Devil to a game of American football? The contest, for sure, has with [sic] own laws (so that after God and the Devil 'tackle a guy, they don't kick him in the head'), but each side is not above cheating—with God breaking the rules occasionally by throwing in 'a miracle'. Strangely, Mailer doesn’t mention Jesus in this agonising analogy, but then the notion of the 'super-sub' may be an image too far even for him. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#book-review #devil #god #jesus #miracles

This country has done much, I wish it may do more, and annul every narrow idea in religion, government, and commerce. ↗

— John Adams

#religion

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#awesome #jfk #peace #awesome

You can't talk about fucking in America, people say you're dirty. But if you talk about killing somebody, that's cool. ↗

— Richard Pryor

#free-speech #pornography #priorities #sex #violence

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#inaugural-address #overconfidence #liberty

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. ↗

— Herbert Hoover

#opportunity #patriotism #united-states #usa #independence