William Wordsworth on patriotism

To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

And ‘t is my faith, that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

Sweetest melodies
Are those that are by distance made more sweet.

Ask not what your country can do for you⁠—ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy1917–1963John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961)

‘My country, right or wrong’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying, except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober’.

G. K. Chesterton1874–1936The Defendant (1901), “A Defence of Patriotism”

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

Oscar Wilde1854–1900