1. "What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom ?to' and freedom ?from.'" ~ Marilyn vos Savant

2. "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." ~ Elmer Davis

3. "America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality." ~ Adlai Stevenson

4. "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." ~ Samuel Adams

5. "Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." ~ Calvin Coolidge

6. "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." ~ Nathan Hale

7. "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

8. "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." ~ George Bernard Shaw

9. "Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Abraham Lincoln

10. "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none." -Thomas Jefferson

11. "Fear is the foundation of most governments." ~ John Adams

12. "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." ~ Thomas Jefferson

13. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin

14. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." ~ Thoreau

15. "True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." ~ Clarence Darrow

16. "A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle." ~ George Curtis

17. "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" ~ Patrick Henry

18. "In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated, and scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." ~ Mark Twain

On this Independence Day, let us remember the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom. Let us also remember that America is not defined by the politicians who run it, but the people who love it. These patriotic quotes remind us that patriotism in America does not mean following blindly, but rather it means holding to the ideals that gave birth to this great nation.