James MacGregor Burns Quotes

The first obligation is to the French people and establish solidarity among our own citizens.

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.

What is it that unites, on the left of British politics, George Orwell, Billy Bragg, Gordon Brown and myself? An understanding that identity and a sense of belonging need to be linked to our commitment to nationhood and a modern form of patriotism.

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.

E Pluribus Unum, the Latin phrase on the great seal of the United States literally translated means one from many. We need to reattach pluribus to unum—the many to the one.

We can't talk about community values without being prepared to invest in those very same communities.

Our fate as a nation and our future as a people rest not upon one citizen but upon all citizens.

America is a place where we all come together. It is a place of consensus.

We may disagree among ourselves, but let us never lose sight of that greater battle for one people, one country, one Philippines.

The history of American patriotism is figuring out ways that we can work together to move forward and knit together the common government.

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

For the state of our union to be strong, we need to place value in Americans.

As immigrants, we understand better than most that to be an American is a privilege that conveys not just rights but responsibilities.

To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag.

That future depends on the values of self-government, our sense of duty, loyalty, self-confidence and regard for the common good. We are a diverse country, and getting more diverse. And these virtues are what keep this great country together.

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

The modern idea of citizenship goes some way to accommodating the tension between solidarity and diversity. Citizenship is not an ethnic, blood-and-soil concept, but a more abstract political idea - implying equal legal, political and social rights (and duties) for people inhabiting a given national space.

Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.

Citizenship should be placed above everything else, even learning.

We are such a large country that it is sometimes hard for us to realize that we are one nation, and that the interests of one part of the country, though they may be at variance with other parts, must react on each other and are therefore of interest to all men and women everywhere in the United States.

All Soviet People were trying to do something to help the nation.

Our citizens must feel they are part and parcel of this country. This is essential.

Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans!

I fear that our loss of a sense of connection with, and duties to, each other leaves us unable to effectively address growing inequality and the bitter antagonism between different communities in American society. We've been at our best when we've felt in significant degree that our fates bound up with each other, where we've had a very inclusive sense of the other, and that's now very much not the case.

I believe that it is of the utmost importance that we all should feel and inculcate among the people and circulate amongst them what I call a sense of compatriotism. We should all feel that we are all nationals of one country, whatever our race, colour, creed, or sect.