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Quotes about patriotism

116 quotes from 83 people

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Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro⁠—
And what should they know of England who only England know?
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936The English Flag, Stanza 1 (1891).
True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them — the desire to do right — is precisely the same.
Robert E. Lee1807–1870Letter to General P.G.T. Beauregard (3 October 1865)
Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be but must be.
Mao Zedong1893–1976Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War (October 1938)
The working men have no country.
Karl Marx1818–1883The Communist Manifesto (1848)In context
- Work
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873“The Contest in America,” Fraser’s Magazine (February 1862)
- War & Peace
We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood…. So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe1924–2019Speech at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg (2 September 2002), quoted in John Battersby and Andrew Grice, “Anti-West anger at summit as Mugabe rounds on Blair”, The Independent, 3 September 2002, p. 1.
- Politics
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.
Edward R. Murrow1908–1965See It Now (1954)
- Justice
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)
Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.
George Orwell1903–1950Notes on Nationalism (1945)
We are in a strange period of history in which a revolutionary has to be a patriot and a patriot has to be a revolutionary.
George Orwell1903–1950Letter to The Tribune (20 December 1940), later published in A Patriot After All, 1940-1941 (1999)
England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.
George Orwell1903–1950The Lion and the Unicorn (1941)
Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.
George Orwell1903–1950Notes on Nationalism (1945)
- Power
By “nationalism” I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled “good” or “bad.”
George Orwell1903–1950Notes on Nationalism (1945)
- Politics
Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism.
George Orwell1903–1950Notes on Nationalism (1945)
- Politics
My homeland is the Portuguese language.
Fernando Pessoa1888–1935The Book of Disquiet (as Bernardo Soares; published 1982)