National Standard

Famous quotes containing the words national and/or standard:

    “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”
    —Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804)

    “This unlettered man’s speaking and writing are standard English. Some words and phrases deemed vulgarisms and Americanisms before, he has made standard American; such as “It will pay.” It suggests that the one great rule of composition—and if I were a professor of rhetoric I should insist on this—is, to speak the truth. This first, this second, this third; pebbles in your mouth or not. This demands earnestness and manhood chiefly.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)