Bassem Youssef Quotes

Americans are proud of this country. They want to see things get better, and they want to be part of that turnaround. That's what America Speaking Out is all about.

When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world.

Since 9/11, there has been a huge leap in people wanting to get personally involved in public service and international affairs.

America somehow thinks that leadership relates to governance, and it certainly does. But society is much bigger than governance, and some of the truly great leadership of our society is outside the governance arena.

It began to dawn on me that perhaps my country needed me more at home than overseas.

Empowerment is not about doing the same thing the same way in the same environment. It's about building the man and the woman and doing so with a view to creating better citizens and, by extension, better patriots in this society of ours.

Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.

Was I going to remain an academic, sitting in an ivory tower criticizing things? Or was I going to do something as an engaged citizen.

I want Americans to realize that we are the owners of this country, and that one person can make a difference.

I think young people can make such an extraordinarily important difference in making this world a better place.

I believe that our country is going in the wrong direction, and I have a very strong desire to help out in any way that I can.

Puerto Ricans, it doesn't matter where they live, it doesn't matter how long it's been since they visited the island, their hearts are there. If you keep them informed, and if you say to them, 'This is important for Puerto Rico, go and call your congressman,' they do it. They do it.

My message to you is very clear: Wake up, America!

I have a vision of my country, and I cannot sit and watch things pass by.

I was born in America. I don't agree with 99.9 percent of the things America does around the world or at home, but I have no other home.

True patriotism is loving your country and countrymen enough to want to make it better.

Even through sports, I have been serving the country. But later, I want to join politics.

I want society to feel they are part of a process of change.

Nations are not built by governments alone. The government can at best be a facilitator, and a trigger for society's innate entrepreneurial and creative instincts.

Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.

Imagination is what has driven human progress since very early times.

I think the people who are saying jazz has to sound a particular way, or "what you're doing isn't jazz," are just scared because they can't do it. A lot of them just aren't talented enough to do anything new, honestly. It's the people who are talented enough and who have the open mind and who are forward-thinkers are the ones who are doing something new. You tend to hate on what you can't produce.

How boring to copy the past -- with all the magnificence of today and tomorrow.

The creation lives as genesis beneath the visible surface of the work. All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative see it before the fact - in the future.