William J. Crowe Jr. Quotes

Here's an idea: How about just 'Americans?' That has a nice ring to it, if you ask me. Placing undue emphasis on our 'separateness' is a step backward. Bring back the melting pot.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America.

Think about just how much we'd get accomplished if we collectively viewed the people with whom we came into contact as just an American and not an American with a prefix.

America is not anything if it consists of each of us. It is something only if it consists of all of us.

Americans divide most sharply over what brings them together.

As we've grown as a country, we've allowed our fears and our doubts and our questions about things that we don't know to become more divisive than uniting us as a country, as a people.

In South Africa, we kind of like looking for things that unite people in big, big groups.

America is a collection of people from different races, religions, and backgrounds - that is part of what makes us great. But a common language is what brings all of those people together to form a community.

America rests on shared values rather than shared ethnicity.

There is too much disagreement for disagreement's sake. In a time of persistent challenges that still call into question our most sacred aspirations as a country, we cannot afford shallow callous divisiveness in our public debate.

Citizenship rights is about making all Iranians feel they are part of one nation, one identity, under one umbrella they can feel proud of.

And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship.

We don't need to chase a nostalgic rendering of Britain as it never was and never can be: we need instead an understanding of who we really are and what a happy, prosperous, just nation might look like.

We may be a nation of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, but first and foremost we are all human beings and Americans.

As the nation watches, Democrats and Republicans should reflect the interspersed character of America itself. Perhaps, by sitting with each other for one night, we will begin to rekindle that common spark that brought us here from 50 different states and widely diverging backgrounds to serve the public good.

Our national purpose, not our party differences, must define the American Brand. We must change the conversation from one centered around what defines our differences to one that hangs a lantern on what binds us, supports our collective well being and makes us all stronger and more productive as a result.

Whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship.

For my part, I make this pledge to all of you: The politics of division, of pitting east against west, urban versus rural, region against region, and people against people will have no place in my Administration.

I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.

America's strength is not our diversity; our strength is our ability to unite people of different backgrounds around common principles. A common language is necessary to reach that goal.

We must unify Taiwan; we cannot afford to have our society being divided in half.

Schools exist in America and have always existed to train responsible citizens of the United States of America. If they don't do that, it's very hard to hold us together as a country, because it's shared values that hold us together.

For too long, we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together.

The great American tradition is one of pluralism, not exclusive secularism. The strength of our country is reflected in the contributions that we all make to the common good.

Citizenship in a diverse society means living with our deepest differences and committing ourselves to work for public policies that are in the best interest of all individuals, families, communities and our nation.