John McCain

“ We must represent to the world, even in perilous times, when we confront enemies who share none of our values, who scorn the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that ennoble our history, we must always show the world that those values are dearer to us than anything. They are dearer to us than life itself. We need not and we must not sacrifice our values in this war against terrorism. We cannot win the war if we do, and we will lose something far more precious, our political soul. ”

“ Prosperity and power might delude us into thinking we have achieved that distinction, but inequities and challenges unforeseen a mere generation ago command every good citizen's concern and labor. But what we have achieved in our brief history is irrefutable proof that a nation conceived in liberty will prove stronger and more enduring than any nation ordered to exalt the few at the expense of the many or made from a common race or culture or to preserve traditions that have no greater attribute than longevity. ”

“ To pierce the veneer of outside things, to strive for something more ennobling than the luxuries that privilege and wealth have placed within easy reach. For the memories of such accomplishments are fleeting, attributable as they are to the fortunate circumstances of our birth and reflect little credit on our character or our nation's. ”

“ The "strenuous life" was his definition of Americanism, a celebration of America's pioneer ethos, the virtues that inspired our self-confidence, that bound us by sacred duty to suffer hardship and risk danger to protect the values of our civilization and impart them to humanity. "We cannot sit huddled within our borders," he warned, "and avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what happens beyond." ”

“ That is why, I believe, that even though captured al Qaeda members would never accord us any protection of our rights -- on the contrary, they despise all human rights -- even though they are, in fact, evil, we must adhere in our treatment of them to the standards of our values, not theirs. Because, my friends, they way we treat them is not about them. It is about us. That is why a young Czech student used the majestic prose of our Declaration of Independence to claim his own rights from a brutal dictatorship. No other country can claim such moral leadership. ”

“ The richest man or woman, the most successful and celebrated Americans, possess nothing of importance if their lives have no greater object than themselves. They may be masters of their own fate, but what a poor destiny it is that claims no higher cause than wealth or fame. ”

“ I discovered that nothing is more liberating in life than to fight for a cause that encompasses you, but is not defined by your existence alone. And that has made all the difference, my friends, all the difference in the world. ”

“ I have found over the years that my audiences are rarely as impressed with my wisdom and eloquence as I hoped they would be. They prefer to question, interrogate or, with any luck, provoke me into revealing greater information about my views, purposes and mental acuity than I intended to disclose or, at least, salvage a little entertainment from the evening in the event my responses are not as thoughtful as my staff hoped they would be. ”

“ He exalted the morals and political values of a nation where the people are sovereign, recognizing not only the inherent justice of self-determination, that freedom empowered individuals to choose their own destiny, but that it empowers us to choose a common destiny. And for Roosevelt that common destiny surpassed material gain and self-interest. Our freedom and industry must aspire to more than acquisition and luxury. We must live out the true meaning of freedom, and "accept that we have duties to others and duties to ourselves ”

“ Some critics, in his day and ours, saw in Roosevelt's patriotism only flag-waving chauvinism, not all that dissimilar to Old World allegiances that incited one people to subjugate another and plunged whole continents into war. ”

“ Very far from here and long ago, I served with men of extraordinary character, honorable men, strong, principled, wise, compassionate and loving men. Better men than I, in more was than I can number. They were often treated cruelly. ”

“ Seventeen years ago, in the first days of the last days of the Soviet empire, a young Czech student stood before a million of his countrymen, while two hundred thousand Soviet troops still occupied his country, and, trembling with emotion, read a manifesto that declared a new day for the captive peoples of Eastern Europe. ”