Get ready for America's birthday with these 4th of July quotes that will have you feeling red, white and blue
70 Patriotic 4th of July Quotes that Embody the American Spirit
Updated on May 05, 2025
Patriotic 4th of July quotes
1. “Patriotism comes from the heart. Patriotism is voluntary … A patriot shows their patriotism through their actions, by their choice.” —Jesse Ventura
2. “The flag represents all the values and liberties Americans have and enjoy every day.” —Bill Shuster
3. “We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth: peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home … But when we look at our flag and behold it, emblazoned with all our rights, we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done.” —Calvin Coolidge
4. “The red and white and starry blue is freedom’s shield and hope.” —John Philip Sousa
5. “What does the flag mean? It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the man whose people have been here generations.” —Henry Cabot Lodge
6. “I’d like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted other people to be also free.” —Rosa Parks
7. “True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” —Clarence Darrow
8. “The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history.” —Woodrow Wilson
9. “What we need are critical lovers of America—patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it.” —Hubert Humphrey
10. “True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
11. “Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” —Theodore Roosevelt
12. “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” —John F. Kennedy
13. “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
14. “Intellectually, I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally, I know she is better than every other country.” —Sinclair Lewis
15. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” —John F. Kennedy
16. “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” —Elmer Davis
Funny 4th of July quotes
17. “When you’re born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat.” —George Carlin
18. “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” —Gloria Steinem
19. “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” —George Bernard Shaw
20. “It’s Fourth of July weekend, or, as I call it, Exploding Christmas.” —Stephen Colbert
21. “My father described this tall lady who stands in the middle of the New York harbor, holding high a torch to welcome people seeking freedom in America. I instantly fell in love.” —Yakov Smirnoff
22. “Laughter is America’s most important export.” —Walt Disney
23. “You wonder sometimes how our government puts on its pants in the morning.” —Jon Stewart
24. “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” —George Orwell
25. “A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.” —Bill Vaughan
Happy 4th of July quotes
26. “What was important wasn’t the fireworks, it was that we were together this evening, together in this place, looking up into the sky at the same time.” —Banana Yoshimoto
27. “It will be celebrated with pomp and parade, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other.” —John Adams
28. “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” —Erma Bombeck
29. “Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.” —John Dickinson
30. “I believe in America because we have great dreams, and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true.” —Wendell L. Wilkie
31. “I always have the most fun on the Fourth of July. You don’t have to exchange any gifts. You just go to the beach and watch fireworks.” —James Lafferty
32. “Dreams are the foundation of America.” —Lupita Nyong’o, Kenyan-Mexican actress
33. “America is another name for opportunity.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inspiring 4th of July quotes
34. “America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
35. “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” —Theodore Roosevelt
36. “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” —Mahatma Gandhi
37. “We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their plows but to secure liberty for their souls.” —Robert J. McCracken
38. “Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.” —Herbert Hoover
39. “Diversity: the art of thinking independently, together.” —Malcolm Forbes
40. “The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” —Aung San Suu Kyi
41. “The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.” —Carson McCullers
42. “Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.” —Alexander Hamilton
43. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” —Ronald Reagan
44. “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Nelson Mandela
45. “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” —Albert Einstein
46. “One characteristic of Americans is that they have no tolerance at all of anybody putting up with anything. We believe that whatever is going wrong ought to be fixed.” —Margaret Mead
47. “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” —Adlai Stevenson II
48. “In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.” —Barack Obama
49. “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.” —Will Rogers
50. “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” —James Madison
51. “Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: We all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.” —Maya Angelou
52. “True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.” —Brigham Young
53. “Diversity of thought and culture and religion and ideas has become the strength of America.” —Gary Locke
54. “Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” —Thurgood Marshall
55. “With freedom comes responsibility.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
56. “What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ‘to’ and freedom ‘from.’” —Marilyn vos Savant
57. “When you get to know a lot of people, you make a great discovery … It takes all the people—black and white, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, recent immigrants and Mayflower descendants—to make up America.” —Judy Garland
58. “I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.” —Bob Dylan
59. “In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.” —Barack Obama
60. “I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
61. “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” —Toni Morrison
4th of July short quotes
62. “The United States is the only country with a known birthday.” —James G. Blaine
63. “America is a tune. It must be sung together.” —Gerald Stanley Lee
64. “Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.” —John Gunther
65. “Freedom lies in being bold.” —Robert Frost
66. “My favorite thing about the United States? Lots of Americans, one America.” —Val Saintsbury
67. “Liberty is the breath of life to nations.” —George Bernard Shaw
68. “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.” —William J. Clinton
69. “Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” —Moshe Dayan
70. “America, for me, has been the pursuit and catching of happiness.” —Aurora Raigne
Now that you have been inspired by these 4th of July quotes, see if you can nail this 4th of July trivia.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources.For this piece on 4th of July quotes, writer Chloë Nannestad tapped her experience covering quotes, quirky facts, trivia and humor for Reader’s Digest. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
