Patriotism

"Patriotism always exists in the greatest degree in rude nations, and in an early period of society."

"Gentlemen have talked a great deal of patriotism. A venerable word, when duly practised. But I am sorry to say that of late it has been so much hackneyed about that it is in danger of falling into disgrace. The very idea of true patriotism is lost, and the term has been prostituted to the very worst of purposes."

"Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations."

"Our patriotism comes straight from the Romans. This is why French children are encouraged to seek inspiration for it in Corneille. It is a pagan virtue, if these two words are compatible. The word pagan, when applied to Rome, really possesses the significance charged with horror which the early Christian controversialists gave it. The Romans really were an atheistic and idolatrous people; not idolatrous with regard to images made of stone or bronze, but idolatrous with regard to themselves. It is this idolatry of self which they have bequeathed to us in the form of patriotism."

"Every national border in Europe," El Eswad added ironically, "marks the place where two gangs of bandits got too exhausted to kill each other anymore and signed a treaty. Patriotism is the delusion that one of these gangs of bandits is better than all the others."

"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it."

"Patriotism is the vice of nations."

"Patriotism is love and defense of one's own country, ordinarily considered a high virtue. The national flag is a sacred symbol; hearts quicken at the sound of martial bands. Celebrated in language, music, and the visual arts, patriotism leads us to some of our greatest acts of heroism. It gives us national holidays and justifies the purest kind of sacrifice. Patriotism can look fine and glamorous—at least in the abstract. Stripped of its ape essence, patriotism is male defense of the community, gloried among humans and surely enjoyed among chimpanzees and bonobos. For all the cultural determinists' efforts to persuade us that it's an arbitrary choice, patriotism seems such a fundamental aspect of being human that one can hardly imagine how things might be different."

"What is patriotism but love of the good things we ate in our childhood?"

"If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, nor as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one's country, one's fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles."

"The die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon. Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination."

"Our ships were British oak, And hearts of oak our men."

"From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas we come, Though not with much éclat or beat of drum; True patriots all; for be it understood We left our country for our country's good. No private views disgraced our generous zeal, What urged our travels was our country's weal."

"Be Briton still to Britain true, Among oursel's united; For never but by British hands Maun British wrangs be righted."

"Again to the battle, Achaians! Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance! Our land, the first garden of liberty's tree— It has been, and shall yet be, the land of the free."

"God save our gracious king, Long live our noble king, God save the king."

"I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred toward any one."

"We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and I keep step to the music of the Union."

"Patria est communis omnium parens."

"I have heard something said about allegiance to the South: I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance."

"I hope to find my country in the right: however I will stand by her, right or wrong."

"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong."

"I wish I was in de land ob cotton, Ole times dar am not forgotten, Look-a-way! Look-a-way! Look-a-way, Dixie Land! * * * * * Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray! In Dixie Land I'll take my stand To lib and die in Dixie."

"'Twas for the good of my country that I should be abroad. Anything for the good of one's country—I'm a Roman for that."

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité."

"And bold and hard adventures t' undertake, Leaving his country for his country's sake."

"Our country is the world—our countrymen are all mankind."

"Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, His first best country ever is at home."

"Strike—for your altars and your fires; Strike—for the green graves of your sires; God—and your native land!"

"And have they fixed the where, and when? And shall Trelawny die? Here's thirty thousand Cornish men Will know the reason why!"

"He serves his party best who serves the country best."

"I am not a Virginian but an American."

"One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, One Nation evermore!"

"He serves me most who serves his country best."

"And for our country 'tis a bliss to die."

"That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."

"Pater patriæ."

"Je meurs content, je meurs pour la liberté de mon pays."

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

"Is it an offence, is it a mistake, is it a crime to take a hopeful view of the prospects of your own country? Why should it be? Why should patriotism and pessimism be identical? Hope is the mainspring of patriotism."

"And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?"

"'Twere sweet to sink in death for Truth and Freedom! Yes, who would hesitate, for who could bear The living degradation we may know If we do dread death for a sacred cause?"

"Our spirit is … to show ourselves eager to work for, and if need be, to die for the Irish Republic. Facing our enemy we must declare an attitude simply…. We ask for no mercy and we will make no compromise."

"Vox diversa sonat: populorum est vox tamen una, Cum verus PATRIÆ diceris esse PATER."

"We, that would be known The father of our people, in our study And vigilance for their safety, must, not change Their ploughshares into swords, and force them from The secure shade of their own vines, to be Scorched with the flames of war."

"Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine captos Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui."

"Omne solum forti patria est."

"Patria est, ubicunque est bene."

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

"They know no country, own no lord, Their home the camp, their law the sword."