"This is part of the reason that Americans are bewildered when non-Americans have opinions about all Americans. On any apartment corridor in the States you can have, per door, a different language, philosophy, level of education, financial condition ... How in the Nine Circles does anyone generalize from that?" -- from the Television Tropes & Idioms wiki entry, 'American Political System'
"America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still." -- Edward Estlin Cummings (aka E.E. Cummings or e.e. cummings; b. 1894-10-14, d. 1962-09-03)
[To my countrymen: happy Independence Day! (Happy birthday to
a nation I love enough to want to help make it as great as it thinks
it is, and could be.) And also, happy birthday to
justgus37!]