60 Illinois Quotes about the The Prairie State

Illinois is a midwestern state in the U.S., bordered by Indiana in the east and the Mississippi River in the west.

The state’s diverse geography comprises farmland, forests, rolling hills and wetlands, embodying a unique blend of natural beauty.

This captivating region, with its vast landscapes and urban splendor, has inspired many quotes reflecting its essence.

These Illinois quotes offer a window into the distinct charm and spirit of the state, painting a vivid picture of its lush prairies, majestic river and the bustling life of Chicago.

They will allow you to connect with Illinois’ heritage and appreciate its grandeur, whether they’re familiar with the state or experiencing it for the first time through these words.


Illinois Quotes

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I still think of myself as from Illinois. ~ Alison Krauss.

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My profession is about as far away from growing up in southern Illinois as you can get. ~ Laurie Metcalf.

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To the people of Illinois let me say this. Business as usual IS OVER. ~ Bruce Rauner.

Illinois is a state of suspended animation and the people live in hibernation from Oct. to whenever it ever gets warmer. ~ John Henry O’Hara.

There could not be a more stark contrast between Wisconsin and Illinois. ~ Scott Walker.

Political leaders in Illinois kicked the can down the road, raised taxes, and ignored fiscal realities. Now, they’re realizing the consequences of their actions: credit downgrades and negative outlooks. ~ Scott Walker.

I was born and grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, a small town of about 6,000. It was farm country, and this was the little county seat. ~ June Squibb.

It would be one thing if we could say the system works [in Illinois], and that individuals followed procedures and were found innocent, but in fact in all the cases it was really a fluke … We find persistent wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement. It’s really sheer luck that those convicted of these [capital] crimes were exonerated in the end. ~ Jan Schakowsky.

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I was raised Catholic in Rockford, Illinois. But I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore. Oh God, no. ~ Natasha Leggero.

I grew up in the inner city of Chicago, and then I moved to Robbins, and it kind of raised me. When I was in college, I actually had them change the starting lineup to say ‘from Robbins, Illinois’ instead of ‘Chicago, Illinois.’ ~ Dwyane Wade.

Miles Davis, his parents migrated from Arkansas to Illinois, where he had the luxury of being able to practice for hours upon hours. He never would have been able to do that in the cotton country of Arkansas. ~ Isabel Wilkerson.

If we can rebuild Iraq, we can rebuild Illinois and Indiana and if we can do Baghdad, we can do Baltimore. ~ Carol Moseley Braun.

See Also: Hawaii quotes and Idaho quotes.

Best Illinois Quotes

The official language of the State of Illinois shall be known hereafter as the American language, and not the English language. ~ Frank Church.

One vote. That’s a big weapon you have there, Mister. In 1948, just one additional vote in each precinct would have elected Dewey. In 1960, one vote in each precinct in Illinois would have elected Nixon. One vote. ~ Paul Harvey.

To my great disappointment, it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment – especially those who were filled with great hope a few years ago, when then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield, Illinois. ~ Paul Ryan.

A study in Illinois in the mid-1990s found that 65 percent of businesses were hurt by the proximity of gambling. ~ John Warren Kindt.

But, also, before I even go on the Medicare prescription drug debate, I always tell the folks in rural Illinois, and I represent 30 counties south of Springfield down to Indiana and Kentucky, that in this bill is the best rural package for hospitals ever passed. ~ John Shimkus.

The meetings of the legislature at Springfield then first brought together that splendid group of young men of genius whose phenomenal careers and distinguished services have given Illinois fame in the history of the nation. ~ John George Nicolay.

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Illinois then had no legislation providing compensation for accident or disease caused by occupation. ~ Alice Hamilton.

I love the Midwest. I think about it every day. I wonder if I would rather have a little farm in the Midwest, in Illinois or Wisconsin, or would I rather have like a little getaway up in the mountains of Colorado. ~ Joe Lando.

Famous Illinois Quotes

In Memory of BPP Comrades Fred Hampton & Mark Clark, both assassinated by the US Government via the state and local government of Chicago, Illinois, December 4, 1969. ~ Emory Douglas.

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Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious – and therefore immoral – I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death. ~ George Ryan.

I went to University of Illinois. Big school. 35,000 students. 800 black… I was the only black in every class. Hard to be absent. ~ Godfrey.

One might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth at all. It would be as if every vertebrate in North America somehow felt drawn to a particular house in Peoria, Illinois. Are we really that interesting? ~ Seth Shostak.

The Mississippi River carries the mud of thirty states and two provinces 2,000 miles south to the delta and deposits 500 million tons of it there every year. The business of the Mississippi, which it will accomplish in time, is methodically to transport all of Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. ~ Charles Kuralt.

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Illinois has less than a 12 percent black population and I won with 55 percent of the vote. ~ Carol Moseley Braun.

Illinois is a state of suspended animation and the people live in hibernation from Oct. to whenever it ever gets warmer. ~ John O’Hara.

Top Illinois Quotes

Many seventh graders I know in Illinois, as well as around the Nation, are studying the Constitution. I was pretty impressed with the quality of education our children are receiving because they had not expected me to ask them about it. ~ Melissa Bean.

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Nitrogen fertilizer is used on all crops produced in this country, but it is a key plant nutrient to produce corn a critical crop to Illinois farmers. ~ John Shimkus.

We go through life so fast and we never really get to enjoy moments. It seems like they go past us…Tonight I just wanted to take a minute, a moment and soak it in and be a kid from Robbins Illinois and be a kid from Marquette University. ~ Dwyane Wade.

I said we are going to balance an $11 billion budget deficit in a $29 billion budget, so by percentage, the largest budget deficit in America, by percentage, larger than California, larger than New York, larger than Illinois. And we’re going to balance that without raising taxes on the people of the state of New Jersey. ~ Chris Christie.

In Illinois, community, migrant, homeless and public housing health centers operate 268 primary care sites and serve close to 1 million patients every year. ~ Jan Schakowsky.

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Illinois corn farmers are the Nation’s number two exporter of feed grains. ~ John Shimkus.

I was born in Joliet, Illinois. It was totally Midwestern – small, little house, two great parents, and a sister and a beagle. ~ Paula Pell.

When I was ten, my family moved to Downer’s Grove, Illinois. When I was twelve, I found them. ~ Emo Philips.

A citizen at his home in Rockford, Illinois, or Boulder, Colorado, could read a newspaper, listen to a radio, or watch the round-the-clock coverage on television, but he had no way of connecting with those who shared his views. Nor was there a quick, readily available tool for an ordinary citizen to gather information on his own. In 1960, communication was a one-way street, and information was fundamentally inaccessible. The whole idea of summoning up data or reaching thousands of individuals with the touch of a finger was a science-fiction fantasy. ~ Jeff Greenfield.

I grew up with Cinderella. So that was my go-to Disney film, definitely. It was princess-related, and coming from a smaller area in Illinois and wanting to do something greater than myself in Broadway, that was a film that I could really relate to. ~ Jodi Benson.

Here I am, a Palestinian Arab who only knows how to write in Hebrew, stuck in central Illinois. ~ Sayed Kashua.

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I literally integrated the small town of Libertyville, Illinois. I was the first person of color to reside within its borders. ~ Tom Morello.

I grew up in Glen Ellyn, which is about 20 miles west of Chicago. I attended Glenbard South High School and University of Illinois. I didn’t study acting until I moved to Los Angeles after college, but the fact that I was raised in the Chicago area set the stage for all of my comedic and acting sensibilities. ~ Ryan McPartlin.

I am committed to working with Speaker Hastert and the other members of the Illinois congressional delegation to do all that I can to ensure that Illinois’ funding needs are adequately met. ~ Bill Lipinski.

I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the University of East Illinois, so I was always around the music. One of my dad’s buddies was the avant-garde composer John Cage, so I picked up on that weird classical and eclectic music. ~ Stuart Hamm.

The people that I represent in Illinois care passionately about protecting open space and safeguarding our nation’s natural treasures, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ~ Robert Dold.

What Dred Scott’s master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free state of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or 1,000 slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free state. ~ Roger B. Taney.

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Illinois surpasses every other spot of equal extent upon the face of the globe in fertility of soil and in the proportionable amount of the same which is sufficiently level for actual cultivation. ~ Abraham Lincoln.

In 1966 the ACS formulated a State Model Cancer Act which was instrumental in the enactment of anti-quackery laws now enforced in 9 states…In California (it is a) felony…The use of unproven methods is also a criminal offense in Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. ~ Jane Brody.

Insightful Illinois Quotes

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. ~ Abraham Lincoln.

As a youngster I worked the river boats going down the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, pushing barges to Chicago, then all the way down to New Orleans. ~ Clint Walker.

You may pronounce the sentence upon me, honorable judge, but let the world know that in A.D. 1886, in the State of Illinois, eight men were sentenced to death because they believed in a better future; because they had not lost their faith in the ultimate victory of liberty and justice! ~ August Spies.

Tax reform and expanded trade are going to be so important to the economy of Illinois, particularly the 11th Congressional District, which is a major manufacturing and a major agricultural district. ~ Jerry Weller.

Profound Illinois Quotes

The Metropolitan Museum of Art some time ago held a display of contemporary art at which $52,000 was awarded to American sculptors, painters, and artists in allied fields. The award for the best painting went to the canvas of an Illinois artist. It was described as “a macabre, detailed work showing a closed door bearing a funeral wreath.” Equally striking was the work’s title: “That which I should have done, I did not do.” ~ James Keller.

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I think I started realizing I was losing my hair when I was in Illinois. And it was traumatic. It was not something I had figured on in my life. ~ Stephen Tobolowsky.

We in Illinois are very fortunate to have a number of historic structures that have added immeasurably to the cultural life of the state, to the tourism industry of the state which by the way is our number one industry. ~ James R. Thompson.

Well apparently nothing as of December 13, 1978. There was 20 trained police officers came to the house, with a warrant..searched the house, and they went down in the crawlspace…while I was being held at the jail in Des Plaines, Illinois. They never took anything from the crawlspace other than bringing up lime into the house. There also were no mounds of dirt like what is mentioned in books. ~ John Wayne Gacy.

East St. Louis – which the local press refers to as “an inner city without an outer city” has some of the sickest children in America. Of 66 cities in Illinois, East St. Louis ranks first in fetal death, first in premature birth, and third in infant health. ~ Jonathan Kozol.

The comedy for the Democrats is that they’re showing off too much. They need to be putting a boring white guy out there to kind of get a hold of things. Once the boring white guy is out there, then you bust out the junior senator from Illinois who smokes and does cocaine. ~ Tina Fey.

I had a chance to choose a couple different places and, well, I grew up – I was a small-town kid from Illinois, so No. 1, just trying to win a championship for my home state. ~ Ben Zobrist.

Tonight we send a message to our party that here in Illinois, there will be a new generation of Republican leaders and we will fight to provide a better tomorrow for future generations. We’ve made clear the status quo is no longer acceptable. ~ Adam Kinzinger.

Tonight Illinois has set a tone for the nation, that we won’t stand idle hoping that our economy improves. This is a brand new day for the Illinois Republican Party. ~ Adam Kinzinger.


So these were the 60 quotes about Illinois state of United States.

If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other popular blog posts on the topics of Florida quotes and Georgia quotes.

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Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of Internet Pillar - I love sharing quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar