The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.
George W. BushRead
Not far from here where we gather today is a symbol of freedom familiar to all Americans -- the Liberty Bell. When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public, the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, and a witness said: "It rang as if it meant something."
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the significance of the Liberty Bell as a symbol of freedom and the joy it represented during the declaration of independence.
George W. Bush reflects on the Liberty Bell as a powerful symbol of American freedom and independence. Its ringing during the reading of the Declaration of Independence is seen as a profound moment, suggesting that the bell reverberated with meaning and importance, marking the birth of a nation committed to the ideals of liberty and justice.
In practice
During a Fourth of July speech, one might say, 'As we celebrate our nation, let us remember the ringing of the Liberty Bell, a true symbol of our freedom.'
The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.
Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.
Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.
Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.
Adoption was such a positive alternative to abortion, a way to save one life and brighten two more: those of the adoptive parents.
We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions - by abandoning every value except the will to power - they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.
Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps.
They were singing in French, but the melody was freedom and any American could understand that.
Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.
For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.
Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he is free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.
The great battleground for the defense and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe... the lands of the rising peoples. Their revolution is the greatest in human history. They seek an end to injustice, tyranny and exploitation. More than an end, they seek a beginning.
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