Henry Clay on patriotism

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity⁠—unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.

An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.

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