Dying for one's country

Explore 9 quotes about Dying for one's country

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est

A Latin phrase, originally from Horace's Odes, meaning "it is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland."

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Topic

Dying for one's country Self-sacrifice Patriotism War

Author

Wilfred Owen

Source

Dulce et Decorum Est

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." Poems by Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, 1920.

Current Citation

Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The War Poems Of Wilfred Owen. Random House UK, 2018.

It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Dying for one's country

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 15, l. 496-497.

Lovely and honorable it is to die for one's country.

Horace

Odes

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Topic

Dying for one's country Patriotism

Author

Horace

Source

Odes

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

23 BC 20s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Horace. Carmina [Odes]. 23 BC, bk. 3, no. 2.

Current Citation

Horace. "Odes." The Complete Odes and Epodes, translated by David West. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 3, no. 2.

Fix your eyes on the greatness of Athens as you have it before you day by day, fall in love with her, and when you feel her great, remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action... So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all memorials, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the memorial of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Great men Heroes Dying for one's country

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

They died to save their country and they only saved the world.

G.K. Chesterton

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Topic

Dying for one's country World War I

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Source

The English Graves The Ballad of St. Barbara and Other Verses

Medium

Poem

Genre

War poetry

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chesterton, G.K. "The English Graves." The Ballad of St. Barbara and Other Verses. Cecil Palmer, 1922, I. 18.

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

Thomas Babington Macaulay

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Topic

Dying for one's country Dying for one's religion

Author

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Source

Horatius Lays of Ancient Rome

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1842 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Horatius." Lays of Ancient Rome. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1842, st. 27.

You think you are dying for your country; you die for the industrialists.

Anatole France

More information about this quote

Topic

Anti-war Dying for one's country Patriotism War

Author

Anatole France

Source

L' Humanite

Medium

Newspaper

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

France, Anatole. "Une Lettre D'Anatole France." L'Humanite, 18 July 1922.

Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

Patton

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Topic

Dying for one's country War

Speaker

General George S. Patton

Actor

George C. Scott

Source

Patton

Medium

Film

Genre

Biography (film) War (film) Biography War

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Patton. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. 20th Century Fox, 1969.

I gave my life for freedom-This I know:
For those who bade me fight had told me so.

William Norman Ewer

More information about this quote

Topic

Abuses of patriotism Dying for one's country World War I War

Author

William Norman Ewer

Source

Five Souls

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Ewer, William Norman. "Five Souls." British Nation, 3 Oct. 1914, I. 5.