--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Americans specially love superlatives…" description: "\"Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases 'biggest in the world,' 'finest in the world,' are on all lips. Unless President Hayes is a strong m..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8e/isabella-bird-9643_government_americans-specially-love-superlatives-th_2024033.jpg" --- # Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases… ![“Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases 'biggest in the world,' 'finest in the world,' are on all lips. Unless President Hayes is a strong man, they will soon come to boast that their government is composed of the 'biggest scoundrels' in the world.” quote by Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8e/isabella-bird-9643_government_americans-specially-love-superlatives-th_2024033.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8e/isabella-bird-9643_government_americans-specially-love-superlatives-th_2024033.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8e/isabella-bird-9643_government_americans-specially-love-superlatives-th_2024033.jpg) > “Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases 'biggest in the world,' 'finest in the world,' are on all lips. Unless President Hayes is a strong man, they will soon come to boast that their government is composed of the 'biggest scoundrels' in the world.” [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Americans love exaggeration, labeling everything as the greatest, even their government, which can lead to overblown praise or criticism. **In simple terms:** Americans often use superlatives, sometimes unfairly. Key Takeaway Question the use of superlatives in discourse. Themes culture language politics exaggeration Mood analytical skeptical Type cultural observational When to use this quote - political speeches - media headlines - public debates - advertising slogans Key Concepts hyperbole national identity political rhetoric Questions to Reflect On - Why do societies gravitate toward extremes in language? - How does hyperbole affect public trust? A Different Perspective Overuse of superlatives can diminish credibility and nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man/) [Strong man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strong-man/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Americans specially love superlatives. The phrases 'biggest in the world,' 'finest in the world,' are on all lips.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/americans-specially-love-superlatives-the-phrases-biggest-in-the-2/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [Poets and writers who are in love with the superlative all want to do more than they can.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/poets-and-writers-who-are-in-love-with-the-superlative-all-want-to-do/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [For Rat Kiley, I think, facts were formed by sensation, not the other way around, and when you listened to one of his stories,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/for-rat-kiley-i-think-facts-were-formed-by-sensation-not-the-other/) [Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/) > [From scarlet to powdered gold, to blazing yellow, to the rare ashen emerald, to the orange and black velvet of your shimmering corselet, out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/from-scarlet-to-powdered-gold-to-blazing-yellow-to-the-rare-ashen/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Whether early or late, the Parker novels are all superlative literary entertainments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-teachout/whether-early-or-late-the-parker-novels-are-all-superlative-literary/) [Terry Teachout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-teachout/) > [To me singing is a joy. Choral singing is a delight. Welsh Choral singing is more than a delight. The Treorchy Male Choir is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronnie-barker/to-me-singing-is-a-joy-choral-singing-is-a-delight-welsh-choral/) [Ronnie Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronnie-barker/) > [My pride and my power of vision were all that I owned when I started - and whatever I achieved, was achieved by means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/my-pride-and-my-power-of-vision-were-all-that-i-owned-when-i-started/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [I don't know why we have to put things in boxes of superlatives. That isolates them. Life is fluid, and the minute you start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-know-why-we-have-to-put-things-in-boxes-of-superlatives-that/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [What but education has advanced us beyond the condition of our indigenous neighbors? And what chains them to their present state of barbarism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/what-but-education-has-advanced-us-beyond-the-condition-of-our/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[Chicago\] is the greatest and most typically American of all cities. New York is bigger and more spectacular and can outmatch it in other… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gunther/chicago-is-the-greatest-and-most-typically-american-of-all-cities-new/) [John Gunther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gunther/) > [I wouldn't touch a superlative again with an umbrella.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-parker/i-wouldn-t-touch-a-superlative-again-with-an-umbrella/) [Dorothy Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-parker/) > [There emanates from superlatives a destructive force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/there-emanates-from-superlatives-a-destructive-force/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [I needed people to deliver my feelings back to me in a form that was legible. Which is a superlative kind of empathy to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-jamison/i-needed-people-to-deliver-my-feelings-back-to-me-in-a-form-that-was/) [Leslie Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-jamison/) > [Supernatural is a dangerous and difficult word in any of its senses, looser or stricter. But to fairies it can hardly be applied, unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/supernatural-is-a-dangerous-and-difficult-word-in-any-of-its-senses/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Wilderness is rapidly becoming one of those aspects of the American dream which is more of the past than of the present. Wilderness is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ansel-adams/wilderness-is-rapidly-becoming-one-of-those-aspects-of-the-american/) [Ansel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ansel-adams/) ## More by Isabella Bird > [If Japanese tea 'stands,' it acquires a coarse bitterness and an unwholesome astringency. Milk and sugar are not used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/if-japanese-tea-stands-it-acquires-a-coarse-bitterness-and-an/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [The situation of Leh is a grand one, the great Kailas range, with its glaciers and snowfields, rising just behind it to the north,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/the-situation-of-leh-is-a-grand-one-the-great-kailas-range-with-its/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [I was heartily sorry to leave Leh, with its dazzling skies and abounding colour and movement, its stirring topics of talk, and the culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/i-was-heartily-sorry-to-leave-leh-with-its-dazzling-skies-and/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [Everybody seized upon a bit of the beast. 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The noise of the modern world reaches it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/malacca-fascinates-me-more-and-more-daily-there-is-among-other-things/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) [Explore all 71 Isabella Bird quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) ## 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! 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