--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: America is not only big and rich, it is…" description: "\"America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and its capacity for the humorous or ironical concealment of its interests matches that of the lege..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab7/david-riesman-18267_america_america-is-not-only-big-and-rich-it-is-m_2656683.jpg" --- # America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and… ![“America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and its capacity for the humorous or ironical concealment of its interests matches that of the legendary inscrutable Chinese.” quote by David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab7/david-riesman-18267_america_america-is-not-only-big-and-rich-it-is-m_2656683.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab7/david-riesman-18267_america_america-is-not-only-big-and-rich-it-is-m_2656683.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab7/david-riesman-18267_america_america-is-not-only-big-and-rich-it-is-m_2656683.jpg) > “America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and its capacity for the humorous or ironical concealment of its interests matches that of the legendary inscrutable Chinese.” [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. America’s vastness and wealth are matched by a mysterious, humor‑filled self‑concealment similar to that of enigmatic Chinese culture. **In simple terms:** America is big, rich, and mysteriously self‑concealing. Key Takeaway Recognize and navigate cultural paradoxes. Themes culture identity humor Mood analytical curious Type academic observational When to use this quote - political analysis - media critique - cross‑cultural studies - personal identity work Key Concepts sociology national character irony Questions to Reflect On - How does humor mask national interests? - What parallels exist between American and Chinese self‑presentation? A Different Perspective Oversimplification may ignore nuanced realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [America Big](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america-big-429424/) [Big Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big-rich-2393011/) [Inscrutable Chinese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inscrutable-chinese-2393012/) [Ironical Concealment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ironical-concealment-2393013/) [Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious/) [Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rich/) [Rich Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rich-mysterious-2393010/) ## Related quotes > [In America, everything is big and more like a jungle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meital-dohan/in-america-everything-is-big-and-more-like-a-jungle/) [Meital Dohan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meital-dohan/) > [“America is one big maill with a country attached to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-fountain/america-is-one-big-maill-with-a-country-attached-to-it/) [Ben Fountain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-fountain/) > [I always liked the idea that America is a big facade. We are all insects crawling across on the shiny hood of a Cadillac.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-always-liked-the-idea-that-america-is-a-big-facade-we-are-all/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [We've been taught in America that big is best. That's why people have to believe that they must live in the greatest country in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-robinson/we-ve-been-taught-in-america-that-big-is-best-that-s-why-people-have/) [Randall Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-robinson/) > [“..there was always a chance, that as bad as things were, America was a big juggling act and that we could all be kept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctrow/there-was-always-a-chance-that-as-bad-as-things-were-america-was-a/) [E. L. 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And we in America will do big things with him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-hunt/president-barack-obama-is-a-doer-and-we-in-america-will-do-big-things/) [Jim Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-hunt/) > [In recent years my understanding of God had evolved into increasingly remote abstractions. I'd come to think of God in terms like Divine Reality,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/in-recent-years-my-understanding-of-god-had-evolved-into-increasingly/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [I've come to believe that whoever I am didn't start on December 14, 1946, and isn't going to end on whatever that mysterious date…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patty-duke/i-ve-come-to-believe-that-whoever-i-am-didn-t-start-on-december-14/) [Patty Duke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patty-duke/) > [The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/the-creator-of-the-universe-works-in-mysterious-ways-but-he-uses-a/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) ## More by David Riesman > [If anything remains more or less unchanged, it will be the role of women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/if-anything-remains-more-or-less-unchanged-it-will-be-the-role-of/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Drivers in a traffic jam, frustrated by each others presence, are not the most amiable of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/drivers-in-a-traffic-jam-frustrated-by-each-others-presence-are-not/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Nowadays, truth is the greatest news. The mass media are the wholesalers, the peer groups, the retailers of the communications industry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/nowadays-truth-is-the-greatest-news-the-mass-media-are-the/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [If you want to get out of medicine the fullest enjoyment, be students all your lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/if-you-want-to-get-out-of-medicine-the-fullest-enjoyment-be-students/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [A spurious democracy has influenced both our research methods (I am sometimes tempted to define "validity" as part of the context of an experiment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/a-spurious-democracy-has-influenced-both-our-research-methods-i-am/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [It is not new for the older generation to bewail the indolence of the young, and there is a tendency for the latter to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/it-is-not-new-for-the-older-generation-to-bewail-the-indolence-of-the/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [The situation of the factory worker today is reminiscent in certain respects of that of the nineteenth-century capitalist whose wife dragged him reluctantly toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/the-situation-of-the-factory-worker-today-is-reminiscent-in-certain/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [It is among the less privileged groups relatively new to leisure and consumption that the zest for possessions retains something of its pristine energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/it-is-among-the-less-privileged-groups-relatively-new-to-leisure-and/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Though top executives may work as hard as ever-in part perhaps because, being trained in an earlier day, they can hardly help doing so-their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/though-top-executives-may-work-as-hard-as-ever-in-part-perhaps/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [“...isn't it possible that advertising as a whole is a fantastic fraud, presenting an image of America taken seriously by no one, least of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/isn-t-it-possible-that-advertising-as-a-whole-is-a-fantastic-fraud/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Social Science … led us to the fallacy that, since all men have their being in culture and as a result of culture, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/social-science-led-us-to-the-fallacy-that-since-all-men-have-their/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Why, I ask, isn't it possible that advertising as a whole is a fantastic fraud, presenting an image of America taken seriously by no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/why-i-ask-isn-t-it-possible-that-advertising-as-a-whole-is-a/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [The premonition of death may for many be a stimulus to novelty of experience: the imminence of death serves to sweep away the inessential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/the-premonition-of-death-may-for-many-be-a-stimulus-to-novelty-of/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [Our society offers little in the way of reeducation for those who have been torn away from their traditional culture and suddenly exposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/our-society-offers-little-in-the-way-of-reeducation-for-those-who/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [In preindustrial cultures leisure is scarcely a burden or a "problem" because it is built into the ritual and ground plan of life for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/in-preindustrial-cultures-leisure-is-scarcely-a-burden-or-a-problem/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) [Explore all 34 David Riesman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) ## More America quotes > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [So here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want all our men and women in uniform to know: Because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/so-here-s-what-i-want-you-to-know-and-here-s-what-i-want-all-our-men/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Today, the world looks to America for leadership. And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/) [Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/) > [ I'll smoke, I'll cough, I'll get the tumors, I'll die, deal? Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. 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