America is built around this premise that you can do it, and there are an awful lot of people who are unlikely to have done it who did.
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Quotes tagged ‘American Dream’
This country has been bound for glory or the ditch, which is really the nature of all popular culture, of the Hollywood blockbuster, of the great American Dream.
In 1940, 90% of kids were destined to do better than their parents did. By the 1980s, the odds had slipped to 50/50. And now we could be the first generation in American history where more kids do worse than their parents.
This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone.
As children growing up here in the East Bay, we were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country—and, a deep understanding of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled.
We are here because the American Dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before. We are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question. Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So, let's answer that question to the world and each other righ…
That ours is a party of opportunity for everybody, no matter where you are from or who you are in the United States. And we are going to do everything we can to make sure people can pursue their American dreams. That is why you hear us talking about building greater schools and universities, making…
I'm still advocating ... I'm going to press for the vote — the Latino vote — when the time comes, because I think it's going to make a great difference. I think we just have to make the people believe that their vote does make a difference.
Since its very genesis, this country has been an incubator for dreamers, especially hopeful immigrants. As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a performer, to make it in show business. And when I was cast as Anita in the 1961 film version of West Side Story — a major production — I knew the A…
The United States is still a land for dreamers. I pray it will always welcome people from all over the world and that our diversity will increase. More spice in the stew!
Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a 'boy friend,' not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two month…
— Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, Don Vito Corleone, Marlon Brando, imdb.com
I am the American Dream, supersized version.
Essie: In the Americas, anyone can be anything they insist upon. New name, new life. That's a place a body could be happy. Mad Sweeney: What the fuck is happy? Essie: Fucked if I know.
I just don’t know why they’re shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to st…
— Laurence Marks, Larry Gelbart, Hawkeye Pierce, Alan Alda, imdb.com
There are a lot of people who were born in other countries who have come here and made a fortune, and that is the American dream. There are no class systems here that can’t be broken. We certainly have our flaws, but that doesn’t happen anywhere else.
In the fallout of the Great Depression, FDR closed all the banks for a bank holiday and then he reopened them in stages when they were reported to being sound. Later, historians discovered what we in this room now know; that those reports, they are mostly lies. Nevertheless, it worked, it worked bec…
No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used to close the door…
Some say that once you get to America, you’re golden, but a lot of immigrants struggle in America as much as they struggled in their homeland.
I have always been inspired by the dream of America—families in the country, weathered trucks and farmhouses; sailing off the coast of Maine; following dirt roads in an old wood-paneled station wagon; a convertible filled with young college kids sporting crew cuts and sweatshirts and frayed sneakers…
But that myth is consumed only by those who have the means to work hard. The myth of the American Dream is only for those who have the privilege to believe in it; it’s not for those who need to figure out how to feed their children breakfast. Those people aren’t in a position to dream.