American Dream Quotes

I define the American dream as the ability to imagine a way that you want your life to turn out, and have a reasonable hope that you can achieve that.

~ David Henry Hwang

The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It's over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam.

~ J. G. Ballard

People are so busy dreaming the American Dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they're all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the Age of Human Error.

~ Florence King

We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans.

~ Max Beerbohm

This is the city of dreamers and time and again it's the place where the greatest dream of all, the American dream, has been tested and has triumphed.

~ Michael Bloomberg

Our theme for this year's festivities, Dreams and Challenges of Asian Pacific Americans, speaks to the many generations of Asian Pacific Americans who worked hard to overcome economic hardship, racism and other barriers in their pursuit of the American dream.

~ Lucille Roybal-Allard

We are really living the American dream, to be a successful brand in the States and in Europe and to steep ourselves in our heritage. But we do it with a sense of humor. We don't take ourselves too seriously in fashion.

~ Tommy Hilfiger

To realize the American dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybody. It's a human dream. If you understand this and work very hard, it is possible.

~ Cristina Saralegui

If you're not willing to work, you're never going to be able to experience the American Dream.

~ Jim Jordan

The American Dream is a term that is often used but also often misunderstood. It isn't really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that.

~ Marco Rubio

The American Dream is independence and being able to create that dream for yourself.

~ Marsha Blackburn

My guiding principle and motivation was that I wanted to retire by the time I turned 35. There actually are two books that I bought and still have - Paul Terhost's 'Cashing In On the American Dream: How to Retire at 35' and Andrew Tobias's 'The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need' - that were my personal financial road map.

~ Mark Cuban

If proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.

~ Michelle Obama

'Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream' is an intentionally angry film. How could it not be when the chance of an infant dying is five times greater on the Bronx Park Avenue than on Manhattan's Park Avenue just across the Harlem River?

~ Alex Gibney

When it comes to the American dream, no one has a corner on the market. All of us have an equal chance to share in that dream.

~ J. C. Watts

We owe it to all our veterans to make sure they have a chance to achieve the American Dream, just like the rest of us.

~ Tammy Duckworth

You destroy the initiative of the working people if they don't feel they have a fighting chance to be a part of the American Dream.

~ James Sinegal

I don't believe that the American dream should be reserved for those who are born into the elite or somehow have been given an advantage over others. My growing-up experience is probably the most important thing that guides my priorities and my work today.

~ Ken Salazar

I want American Dream growth - lots of new businesses, well-paying jobs, and American leadership in new industries, like clean energy and biotechnology.

~ William J. Clinton

Broadband access is the great equalizer, leveling the playing field so that every willing and able person, no matter their station in life, has access to the information and tools necessary to achieve the American Dream.

~ Michael K. Powell

As our federal government has grown too large and too powerful, the real loss has been the freedom of people to govern their own lives and participate fully in the American dream.

~ Steve Forbes

I've been living the American Dream for over 25 years - just being able to do what I do, be creative, and make money out of it. It's incredible.

~ Dr. Dre

I think the American Dream used to be achieving one's goals in your field of choice - and from that, all other things would follow. Now, I think the dream has morphed into the pursuit of money: Accumulate enough of it, and the rest will follow.

~ Buzz Aldrin

The need for a college education is even more important now than it was before, but I think that the increased costs are a very severe obstacle to access. It is an American dream, and I think that one of our challenges is to find a way to make that available.

~ Roy Romer

I think Democrats are right. We fight for the American dream, for the environment, for privacy rights, a woman's right to choose, a good public education system.

~ Barbara Boxer

A basic element of the American dream is equal access to education as the lubricant of social and economic mobility.

~ Nicholas Kristof

I believe that it is higher education's purpose and calling to keep open the door to the American dream.

~ Gordon Gee

The American dream, what we were taught was, grow up, own a car, own a house. I think that dream's completely changing. We were taught to keep up with the Joneses. Now we're sharing with the Joneses.

~ Brian Chesky

I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream.

~ Bruce Springsteen

The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.

~ Azar Nafisi

Success is the American Dream. And that success is not something to be ashamed of, or to demonize.

~ Susana Martinez

Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their status. They didn't mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense - the idea that anyone can make it.

~ Fareed Zakaria

We need to remain a nation that doesn't just welcome but that celebrates legal immigrants who come here seeking to pursue the American Dream.

~ Ted Cruz

The American dream is about freedom.

~ Nancy Pelosi

To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.

~ Maya Lin

The American Dream is about freedom.

~ Rick Mears

If our freedom is taken, the American dream will wither and die.

~ Rand Paul

I didn't come to Washington to fight against my Republican colleagues, or even against my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I came to Washington to fight for the values that make our country unique - for the economic freedom that gives life to the American Dream.

~ David Schweikert