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Quotes about patriotism

116 quotes from 83 people

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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
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940)
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950
But could not our situation be compared to one of a menacing epidemic? People are unable to view this situation in its true light, for their eyes are blinded by passion. General fear and anxiety create hatred and aggressiveness. The adaptation to warlike aims and activities has corrupted the mentality of man; as a result, intelligent, objective and humane thinking has hardly any effect and is even suspected and persecuted as unpatriotic.
Albert Einstein1879–1955The Menace of Mass Destruction
- War & Peace
Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action!
Albert Einstein1879–1955
- War & Peace
Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between their native dislike for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there has been a rethinking and now we can say to you, and say as a nation, thank you for your courage.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- War & Peace
Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech to the American Legion convention, New York City (27 August 1952); as quoted in “Democratic Candidate Adlai Stevenson Defines the Nature of Patriotism” in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches In History (2004) by William Safire, p. 79—80
When a whole nation is roaring patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882December 10, 1824
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.
Aldous Huxley1894–1963
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
Clarence Darrow1857–1938
- Justice
Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933
Our true nationality is mankind.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Outline of History (1920), Ch. 41
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
George Orwell1903–1950Notes on Nationalism (1945)