How can you tell somebody whose is pursuing happiness that they're somehow not American when that was the very first promise that America made?

The pursuit of happiness which American citizens are obliged to undertake tends to involve them in trying to perpetuate the moods tastes and aptitudes of youth.

I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions?

When I was waiting tables washing dishes or mowing lawns for money I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path my own journey an American journey where I could think for myself decide for myself define happiness for myself.

The '20s ended in an era of extravagance sort of like the one we're in now. There was a big crash but then the country picked itself up again and we had some great years. Those were the days when American believed in itself. I was happy and proud to be painting it.

The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.

I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game.

And the American people are the greatest people in the world. What makes America the greatest nation in the world is the heart of the American people: hardworking innovative risk-taking God- loving family-oriented American people.

Americans in particular are myopic. They're not traveling as much. When you were a college student the next thing you would do on graduation was to take a year off and travel. That's what I did. I went to Indonesia.

Really the potential for first of all any college graduate today is enormously good. These are good times for anyone with a college degree today particularly African Americans. With a college degree today you really breach the unemployment rate.

Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent hardworking honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then we elected them.

When good Americans die they go to Paris.

Gibson has been making the finest electric guitars the world has ever witnessed for over 70 years. They are as American as God guns and rock and roll.

The soles of Neil Armstrong's boots on the moon made permanent impressions on our souls and in our national psyche. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parent's sofa. Like all Americans we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world. God bless Neil Armstrong.

The real democratic American idea is not that every man shall be on a level with every other man but that every man shall have liberty to be what God made him without hindrance.

And I will do everything that I can as long as I am President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God and we may call that God different names but we remain one nation.

If we are to garner sustained U.S. domestic support for future trade agreements we have to make sure those Americans who have suffered as a consequence of past agreements have an effective social safety net adjustment assistance opportunities for retraining and new job creation that enables all Americans to thrive.

The United States is locked in a new arms race for that most precious resource - the future entrepreneurs upon whom economic growth depends. Substantial research shows that immigrants play a key role in American job creation.

I've been watching more American TV because of all the great TV series that have come out in the last five to 10 years. I'm a 'Sopranos' fan I'm a 'Wire' fan I'm a 'Mad Men' fan. I'm a 'Deadwood' fan. It makes me optimistic for the future of storytelling on TV that producers are willing to take that kind of jump.

I'm not a prophet I can only use historical reality to come to a view of the future and my view is that Africa will return to being African and not European. The advent of colonialism was foreign to the country itself but it will return to what it was before the Europeans arrived.

Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally.

As an American I wanted to explore... why are we the only first world country that still has capital punishment? Is it because we're too afraid to really examine the system or is it because we really truly believe that this is the best way to deter future crime?

Rather than waiting for future trials to determine rules that will impact every citizen Congress should step in and write a law that takes every American's rights into consideration.

What we're discussing privately and publicly is a budget which is a blueprint for the future which creates jobs which educates our children which provides healthcare for all Americans which takes our deficit down which gives a tax cut for 95% of the American people.