Patriotic quotes
715 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."
"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters."
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense."
"Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped."
"Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country."
"One of the great attractions of patriotism - it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous."
"It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen."
"Human rights, human freedoms... and human dignity have their deepest roots somewhere outside the perceptible world... while the state is a human creation, human beings are the creation of God."
"I think patriotism is like charity -- it begins at home."
"Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion."
"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat."
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."
"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."
"That we we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
"It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses."
"At every crisis in one's life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving."
"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction - to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens."
"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses."
"Sir, I wish to understand the true principles of the Government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more."
"There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far."
