Americans quotes

“About 150 years ago, an idea took shape in the mind of a man named DeWitt Clinton. And in the way Americans have of acting out their dreams, it came to be.”

Spencer Tracy - Narrated by

“- Wang Ta: Here, they're not really married until they seal it with a kiss.
- Mei Li: Everything in America ends in a kiss. What does it mean? Why do they do it?”
James Shigeta - Wang Ta
Miyoshi Umeki - Mei Li

“- Professor: And are you also proud of this fine American citizen in your family, Master Wong?
- Wang Chi-Yang: To become an American citizen it took her five years. She was Chinese in nine months.”

Ching Wah Lee - Professor
Benson Fong - Wang Chi-Yang

In my citizenship class I have learned "We, the people of the United States, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happy time."
Juanita Hall - Madame Liang

“You tell someone you are rich and from America, and they always think you are from Texas!”
Walter Chiari - Pablo

“- Ariane Chavasse: They're very odd people, you know. When they're young, they have their teeth straightened, their tonsils taken out and gallons of vitamins pumped into them. Something happens to their insides! They become immunized, mechanized, air-conditioned and hydromatic. I'm not even sure whether he has a heart.
- Michel: What is he? A...” (continue)(continue reading)
Audrey Hepburn - Ariane Chavasse
Van Doude - Michel

“- Marta: You seem very intelligent for an American.
- Fred: Well, I'm not.”
Mira Sorvino - Marta Ferrer
Chris Eigeman - Fred Boynton

“Our American friends have permitted a breach of the Statue of Secrecy that threatens to expose us all.”
Martin Oelbermann - Heinrich Eberstadt

“- Willingham: That's wonderful, Duncan. Who is he?
- Phipps: His name is Jones. Ralph Jones.
- Willingham: Is he everything we've hoped for?
- Phipps: He has his strengths and his weaknesses. You see, he's American.”

Peter O'Toole - Willingham
Richard Griffiths - Phipps

“- Eddie Birdlace: Why do we bullshit each other like this?
- Berzin: Are you kidding me? Look, I bullshit you, you bullshit me. We take our bullshit from the military, who takes their bullshit from President Kennedy, who takes bullshit from everyone else. And that's what makes us Americans, Birdlace.”
River Phoenix - Eddie Birdlace
Richard Panebianco - Berzin

“I think this regiment could whip Caesar's Tenth Legion! I think they could ride with Genghis Khan! They are the best examples of American manhood. We have cowboys, Ivy Leaguers, football players, polo players, bronco busters, New York City policemen... and one man, I regret to say, who used to work for the Internal Revenue Service!”
Tom Berenger - Theodore Roosevelt

“- Alan Twitty: Tom?
- Tom Gribalski: Ahoy, mateys! What brings you landlubbers down to the salty brine?
- Alan Twitty: Speak English, please?
- Tom Gribalski: Oh, excuse me... Whass'up...?”
A.J. Trauth - Alan Twitty
Fred Meyers - Tom Gribalski

“I know Americans better than people of any other country and by knowing them better I think I know what they laugh at and what should be laughed at.”
Frank Capra

“The people of this nation can stomach quite a bit. But the one thing they can't stomach is the image of a vice president with a mouthful of cock.”
Sam Elliott - Kermit Newman

“Someone said this at some point about why we stayed when we knew we were losing. Ten percent was to help the South Vietnamese. Twenty percent was to hold back the Commies. Seventy percent was to avoid the humiliation of an American defeat. Seventy percent of those boys just to avoid being humiliated? That stuck with me.”
Matthew Rhys - Daniel Ellsberg

“I'm an American and not a Jew.”

David O. Selznick On Ben Hecht

- Benjamin Oliver: Oh, actually all champagne is French; it's named after the region. Otherwise it's sparkling white wine. Americans of course don't recognize the convention, so it becomes that thing of calling all of their sparkling white "Champagne", even though by definition they're not.
- Wayne Campbell: Ah yes, it's a lot like "Star Trek:... (continue)(continue reading)
Rob Lowe - Benjamin Oliver
Mike Myers - Wayne Campbell

“The beauty of American arrogance is that they can't imagine a world where they're not a step ahead.”
Saïd Taghmaoui - Suarez

“- Arkady Renko: I always wanted to meet an American. You are so, so different. Forgive me for staring. Only once before did I ever meet an American, in the flesh, so to speak. A young student, Kirwell I think he was called. James Kirwell.
- Jack Osborne: Oh.
- Arkady Renko: But he was dead.
- Jack Osborne: That doesn't count then, does it?”
William Hurt - Arkady Renko
Lee Marvin - Jack Osborne

“Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end you will understand.”
Benicio del Toro - Alejandro

“- Sheriff Chris Mannix: May I sit down, sir?
- General Sandy Smithers: According to the Yankees, it's a free country.”
Walton Goggins - Sheriff Chris Mannix
Bruce Dern - General Sandy Smithers

“- Francois: What are corn dogs?
- Skinner: Cheap sausages dipped in batter and deep fried. You know, American.”
Julius Callahan - Francois
Sir Ian Holm - Skinner

“An American without ice in his drink is unthinkable, if not unconstitutional!”
Glenda May Jackson - Isobel von Schmidt

“You Americans like to think of yourselves as direct, but I wonder if perhaps you are just rude.”

Sir Kenneth Branagh - Viktor Cherevin

“The Vietnamese... we worked with them, made something, something out of nothing... we want to stay here because it's ours, it belongs to us. It keeps our family together. I mean, we fought for that. While you Americans... you are fighting for the biggest nothing in history!”

Christian Marquand - Hubert de Marais