Happy 4th of July!

Today is the day to celebrate America’s freedom, honor its history and remember all those who fought to keep us free. Here are some of the best quotes, memories and inspirations to celebrate America’s freedom on Independence Day.

“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice!” – – Dwight D. Eisenhower

“This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.” —Lyndon B. Johnson

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like me, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – – Thomas Paine

“Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.” – – Louis D. Brandeis

“People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other. But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That’s not our America. Our United States of America is not about us versus them. It’s about we the people!” – – Camila Alves

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, 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

“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.” – – Thomas Jefferson

“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” – – William Faulkner

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“The United States is the only country with a known birthday. All the rest began, they know not when, and grew into power, they know not how…. There is no “Republican,” no “Democrat,” on the Fourth of July, — all are Americans.” – – James Gillespie Blaine

“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

“America. It is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time.” – – Thomas Wolfe

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”—Bill Clinton

“The red and white and starry blue is freedom’s shield and hope.”- – John Philip Sousa

“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

“If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” – – Ronald Reagan

“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.”- – Herbert Hoover

“We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.” – – Robert J. McCracken

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

“America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.” – – George W. Bush