76 Best 4th of July Quotes to Celebrate Independence Day

Looking for ways to entertain your guests on Independence Day? Liven up the festivities with these 4th of July quotes! Enjoy contributions from past political figures and modern icons for some truly unique takes on America's birthday. If nothing else, they provide plenty of material for toasts, roasts, and everything in between. 

76 'Happy 4th of July' Quotes to Celebrate America's Birthday

Get ready to break up the barbecue games with quotes from the nation's most influential figures. From funny quips to more serious takes from the past, you'll be sure to find the words you're looking for. Read on below to get started!

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Funny 4th of July Quotes

1.  "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
2.  "If our Founding Fathers wanted us to care about the rest of the world, they wouldn't have declared their independence from it." — Stephen Colbert
3. "All people are born alike. Except Republicans and Democrats." — Groucho Marx
4. "It's Fourth of July weekend, or, as I call it, Exploding Christmas." — Stephen Colbert
5. "I normally don't have a burger, a brat, and a steak but… it's 4th of July. And I need the energy if I'm gonna start blowing crap up. It's what the founding fathers would want." — Jim Gaffigan
6. "A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works." — Bill Vaughan
7. "The United States is the only country with a known birthday." — James G. Blaine
8. "Happy 4th of July! Drink until you see stars… and stripes!" — Unknown
9.  "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
10. "If I have to lay an egg for my country, I'll do it." — Bob Hope
11. "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

4th of July Quotes From Presidents

12. "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." — Bill Clinton
13. "What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart." — Joe Biden
14. "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." — John F. Kennedy
15. "In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." – Franklin D. Roosevelt
16.  "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." — George Washington
17. "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and on unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." — Harry S. Truman
18. "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." — Dwight D. Eisenhower
19. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." — Thomas Jefferson
20. "Your love of liberty, your respect for the laws, your habits of industry, and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness." — George Washington
21. "America is a nation with a mission—and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace—a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman." — George W. Bush
22. "I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty." — Woodrow Wilson

4th of July Quotes for Immigrants

23. "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
24. "This land is your land, this land is my land." ⁠— Woody Guthrie
25. "We are a country where people of all backgrounds, all nations of origin, all languages, all religions, all races, can make a home. America was built by immigrants." ⁠— Hillary Clinton
26. "Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life."⁠ — John F. Kennedy
27. "Remember, remember always, that all of us, you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." — President Franklin D. Roosevelt
28. "People come here penniless but not cultureless. They bring us gifts. We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs. We can teach and learn from each other to produce a better America…" — Mary Pipher
29. "I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world." —  Alan Greenspan
30. "America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
31. "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
32. "We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others." — Will Rogers

Inspirational 4th of July Quotes

33. "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 
34. "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
35. "Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country."— Sinclair Lewis
36. "Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." — Mahatma Gandhi
37. "For change often seems impossible until it is inevitable. Just as we must own our lives, we must own our country. For, we, the people, are ultimately in control of the America's story." — Valerie Jarrett
38. "Freedom lies in being bold." — Robert Frost
39. "Dreams are the foundation of America." — Lupita Nyong'o
40. "With freedom comes responsibility." — Eleanor Roosevelt
41. "America is another name for opportunity." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
42. "The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous." — Frederick Douglass
43. "In the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it." — Barack Obama
44. "In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you." — Amy Tan
45. "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." — Harry S. Truman
46. "I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit." — Theodore Roosevelt
47. "The fact is, with every friendship you make and every bond of trust you establish, you are shaping the image of America projected to the rest of the world." — Michelle Obama

Fourth of July Quotes About Family

48. "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
49. "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
50. "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." — Ronald Reagan
51. "Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, basic respect for public order, and the right of peaceful protest." — Barack Obama
52. 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
53. "America is a tune.  It must be sung together." — Gerald Stanley Lee

Patriotic Quotes

55. "Patriotism comes from the heart. Patriotism is voluntary… A patriot shows their patriotism through their actions, by their choice." — Jesse Ventura
56. "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it." — Mark Twain
57. "I think patriotism is like charity; it begins at home." — Henry James
58. "The patriot's blood is the seed of freedom's tree." — Thomas Campbell
59. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." — John F. Kennedy
60. "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
61. "The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone." — Carson McCullers
62. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." —  Abraham Lincoln
63. "Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea." — John Gunther
64. "Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." — James Bryce
65. "Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." — Adlai Stevenson
66. "Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." —  Calvin Coolidge
67. "We can't all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots." — Charles F. Browne

Founding Fathers 4th of July Quotes

68. "Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty." — Alexander Hamilton
69.  "Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall." — John Dickinson
70. "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"— Patrick Henry
71. "I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance." — John Adams
72. "Always stand on principle… even if you stand alone." — John Adams
73. "The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money." — James Madison
74. "The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity." — Benjamin Franklin
75. "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." — Thomas Jefferson
76. "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I Am Not A Virginian, But An American!" — Patrick Henry
77. "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." — James Madison

FAQ

Why does America celebrate the 4th of July?

Americans celebrate the 4th of July to honor the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The event solidified the country's separation from Great Britain and marked the birth of American independence. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

What do you say to Americans on Independence Day?

There are lots of ways to greet Americans on the 4th of July. Some of the most common sayings include:

• Happy Fourth of July
• Happy Independence Day
• God Bless America
• Home of the Brave
• Family, Freedom, and Fireworks
• Happy 4th of July
• Proud to be an American
• Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness