Patriotic quotes
715 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, it is not merely because evil deeds may be performed in the name of patriotism, but because patriotic fervor can obliterate moral distinctions altogether."
"The Jews believed Jerusalem to be the centre. I have seen a kratometric chart designed to show that the city of Philadelphia was in the same thermic belt, and, by inference, in the same belt of empire, as the cities of Athens, Rome, and London. It was drawn by a patriotic Philadelphian, and was examined with pleasure, under his showing, by the inhabitants of Chestnut Street. But, when carried to Charleston, to New Orleans, and to Boston, it somehow failed to convince the ingenious scholars of all those capitals."
"An Englishman does everything on principle: he fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles."
"'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"
"Preparation for war is a constant stimulus to suspicion and ill will."
"Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws."
"It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
"Gold is good in its place, but living, brave, patriotic men are better than gold."
"I can think of nothing more boring for the American people than to have to sit in their living rooms for a whole half hour looking at my face on their television screens."
"Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors."
"It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country."
"In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might."
"Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world."
"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty."
"The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American."
"The people cannot be all, and always well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive."
"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish."
"Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful."
"No one is patriotic about taxes."
"A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man."
