“In America we have nothing that takes the place of the gods and goddesses and heroes and demigods of the ancient world. There is nothing to connect us with the soil. We have no mythology. It has never been possible to construct one.”

"Heroes", written with Brian Eno
Song lyrics, "Heroes" (1977)
Context: I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins
Like dolphins can swim Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, forever and ever
Oh, we can be heroes just for one day.

As quoted in "America's Next Top Fearmonger: The presidential candidates compete to scare the daylights out of the U.S. public." http://nationalinterest.org/feature/america%E2%80%99s-next-top-fearmonger-12954 (22 May 2015), by Robert Golan-Vilella, National Interest.
2010s, 2015

2000s, 2001, First inaugural address (January 2001)
Context: America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion, and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.

Persuasion (1817)
Works, Persuasion

Book 3, Chapter 2, Section 25, p. 479
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559)

Source: Shadowfever

As quoted in Love and Live Or Kill and Die: Realities of the Destruction of Human Life (2009) by James H. Wilson, p. 72
Variants:
Strongest is Necessity because it governs all things.
As quoted in Symbolism of the Sphere: A Contribution to the History of Earlier Greek Philosophy (1977), by Otto Brendel p. 36
Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.
As quoted in Business Management Controls: A Guide (2012) by John Kyriazoglou, p. 55
Context: Nothing is more ancient than God, for He was never created; nothing more beautiful than the world, it is the work of that same God; nothing is more active than thought, for it flies over the whole universe; nothing is stronger than necessity, for all must submit to it.

Source: “Fawkes & Robin Hood didn’t wear masks; ‘hero’ anonymity is US shtick going back to KKK – ‘V for Vendetta’ author Alan Moore to RT” https://www.rt.com/usa/537158-alan-moore-rt-interview/, Russia Today, (11 Oct, 2021)
Context: Moore said in an interview with RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze. “I mean, Guy Fawkes, who the ‘V for Vendetta’ mask is based upon – that wasn’t a mask, that was his face,” he said. Ditto for Robin Hood.

As quoted in The Oakland Tribune (26 November 1955)