Book Description

“America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement.... No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and in his eyes what is not yet done is only what he has not yet attempted to do”—Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835). “Americans will pay a big price for an invention that will help them save time they don’t know what to do with”—Anonymous. This collection of quotations—both serious and humorous—about America is divided into 19 main topics: The Nation, The American People, Places, Nature, Mind, The Individual, Human Relations, Social Life, Culture and Media, Literature and Language, Religion and Belief, Past and Future, History, War and the Military, International Relations, Politics and Government, Law and Order, Business and Economy, and Food. Each main topic is divided into subtopics; for example, “Culture and Media” has these: Architecture, Art, Charlie Chaplin, Dance, Fashion, Intellectuals, Marilyn Monroe, Movies, Music, Elvis Presley, and Television. The author attributes each quote to its speaker, author or composer, and wherever possible, provides the date of the quote and the name of the work in which it was published. In the case of uncertainty about the exact date of a quote, the author provides the birth and death dates of the person to whom the quote is attributed. Also included are a keyword and subject index and a speaker index.