Independence Day Quotes

I had no idea I was part of what was going to be a big mega-hit. I thought I was doing a B sci-fi movie [Independence Day]. And, actually, it was Jeff Goldblum who looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think this is going to be really something." And I said, "Well, I hope you're right." And sure enough, it turned out to be.

It seemed like an interesting movie [Independence Day], and I thought I had a take on the part that was going to be unique. That doesn't happen to me very often.

As for 'Independence Day,' we never intended to do any films in that series beyond the first one.

We have killed more people celebrating our independence day than we lost fighting for it.

I was actually privately in the White House like invited by Clinton to screen 'Independence Day,' so I know how the private residence looks. I didn't snap a picture, but I have a photographic memory and then I could take a guided tour in the West Wing.

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India.

I believe with all my heart that America remains 'the great idea' that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.

It's still the White House exploding [in "Independence Day"]. It was just so provocative, and no one had ever done it before. I remember when we shot it, how everyone was excited.

I was here, and I loaded a shotgun on Independence Day, but I didn't kill anybody. I didn't drone any children. I didn't steal any children's future. I didn't sell this country into debt. I didn't do any of the crimes that the man two blocks over at the White House is responsible for.

So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked.

The dignity of the act is the deliberate, circumspect, open, and serene performance by these men in the clear light of day, and by a concurrent purpose, of a civic duty, which embraced the greatest hazards to themselves and to all the people from whom they held this deputed discretion, but which, to their sober judgments, promised benefits to that people and their posterity, from generation to generation, exceeding these hazards and commensurate with its own fitness.

I think patriotism is like charity -- it begins at home.

I am going to take something I learned over in Israel. Their Independence Day is preceded the 24 hours before with Memorial Day, so it gives them a chance to serve and reflect and then celebrate. I am going to try to start that tradition here in America.

We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Thy spirit, Independence, let me share! Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.

Grasp the opportunity with both hands to feel really very special as an Indian reading these quotes on the Indian Independence Day. A number of famous and reputed persons have thrown some light on the chapter of Indian Independence. India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border!"

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge... At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.

How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.

The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.

To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs.

Without Virginia, as we must all acknowledge--without her Patrick Henry among the people, her Lees and Jefferson in the forum, and her Washington in the field--I will not say that the cause of American liberty and American independence must have been ultimately defeated--no, no, there was no ultimate defeat for that cause in the decrees of the Most High; but it must have been delayed, postponed, perplexed, and to many eyes and hearts rendered seemingly hopeless.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.

Life without Liberty is like a body without spirit. Liberty without thought is like a disturbed spirit.

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

Let freedom never perish in your hands.

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

That which distinguishes this day from all others is that then both orators and artillerymen shoot blank cartridges.

I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.

The United States is the only country with a known birthday.

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.