Patriotism

Explore 33 quotes about Patriotism

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

Buy The Life of Samuel Johnson at Amazon Buy The Life of Samuel Johnson at Amazon
Read The Life of Samuel Johnson at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Abuses of patriotism Patriotism

Speaker

Samuel Johnson

Author

James Boswell

Source

The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D

Genre

Biography

Language

English

Time

1778 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. 7 Apr. 1778.

Current Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

No, I make no pretension to patriotism. So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.

Frederick Douglass

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Speaker

Frederick Douglass

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Douglass, Frederick. "Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country." 24 Sept. 1847, Syracuse, NY, USA.

Current Citation

Douglass, Frederick. "If I Had a Country, I Should Be a Patriot." American Heritage Book of Great American Speeches for Young People, edited by Suzanne McIntire. John Wiley & Sons, 2002.

What pity is it,
That we can die but once, to serve our country!

Joseph Addison

Read Cato at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Serving one's country Citizen and state Patriotism

Author

Joseph Addison

Source

Cato

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1713 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Addison, Joseph. Cato. 14 April 1713, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, England, UK, act 4, sc. 1, l. 258.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.

Edward R. Murrow

Said on his TV program "See it Now" as a challenge to Senator Joseph McCarthy's attempts to quash "communist" enemies.

More information about this quote

Topic

Dissent Treason Patriotism Politics

Speaker

Edward R. Murrow

Source

See It Now

Medium

TV news TV program

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Era

Red scare

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Murrow, Edward R. Tonight See It Now. CBS, 9 Mar. 1954.

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."

Read Dulce et Decorum Est at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

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.

Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it.

George Bernard Shaw

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Author

George Bernard Shaw

Source

Music in London The World

Language

English

Time

1893 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Shaw, George Bernard. "Music in London." The World. London, 15 Nov. 1893.

Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

Buy Julius Caesar at Amazon Buy Julius Caesar at Amazon
Read Julius Caesar at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

Betrayal Loyalty Patriotism Rome

Speaker

Brutus

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Julius Caesar

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play) Tragedy (play)

Language

English

Time

1599 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. The Lord Chamberlain's Men, 1599, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Julius Caesar." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 2.

Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.

Stephen Decatur

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Author

Stephen Decatur

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Decatur, Stephen. Toast given at a dinner in Virginia. Apr. 1816, Norfolk, VA, USA.

Patriotism, as I see it, is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.

George Jean Nathan

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of patriotism Patriotism

Author

George Jean Nathan

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nathan, George Jean. Testament of a Critic. A. A. Knopf, 1931, bk. 1.

My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders.

Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Buy A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court from Amazon Buy A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court from Amazon
Read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Author

Mark Twain

Source

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1889 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. New York: Charles L. Webster and Co., 1889, ch. 13.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, edited by Henry B. Wonham. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018, ch. 13.

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

Horace

Odes

Buy the Odes at Amazon Buy the Odes at Amazon
Read the Odes at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

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.

Your country ain't your blood, you remember that.

The Godfather: Part II

Watch The Godfather: Part II at Amazon Watch The Godfather: Part II at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Family Patriotism

Speaker

Sonny Corleone

Actor

James Caan

Source

The Godfather: Part II

Medium

Film

Genre

Crime (film) Epic (film) Crime Epic

Language

English

Time

1974 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Godfather Part II. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Paramount Pictures Studios/American Zoetrope/Coppola Company, 1974.

I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.

Albert Camus

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Author

Albert Camus

Source

Letters of Albert Camus

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Camus, Albert. Letter to a German Friend. c. 1944.

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government.

JFK

Watch JFK at Amazon Watch JFK at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Speaker

Jim Garrison

Actor

Kevin Costner

Source

JFK

Medium

Film

Genre

Political (film) Thriller (film) Political Thriller

Language

English

Time

1991 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

JFK. Directed by Oliver Stone, Le Studio Canal+/Regency Enterprises/Alcor Films/Ixtlan Corporation, 1991.

The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

Mark Twain

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Author

Mark Twain

Source

The Czar's Soliloquy The North American Review

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Czar's Soliloquy." The North American Review, Mar. 1905.

Current Citation

Twain, Mark. "The Czar's Soliloquy." Collected Nonfiction of Mark Twain. Vol. 1. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2016.

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.

Patriotism in the female Sex is the most disinterested of all virtues. Excluded from honours and from offices, we cannot attach ourselves to the State or Goverment from having held a place of Eminence...Yet all History and every age exhibit Instances of patriotick virtue in the female Sex; which considering our situation equals the most Heroick of yours.

Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams, June 17, 1782

Read this letter at masshist.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism Oppression of women

Author

Abigail Adams

Source

Letter to John Adams, June 17, 1782 Letters of Abigail Adams

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1782 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Adams, Abigail. Letter to John Adams. 17 June 1782.

Current Citation

Adams, Abigail. Quoted in Abigail and John Adams: The Americanization of Sensibility, written by G. J. Barker-Benfield. University of Chicago Press, 2010, ch. 8.

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

More information about this quote

Topic

Friendship Treason Patriotism

Author

E.M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster)

Source

What I Believe The Nation

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1938 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Forster, E.M. "What I Believe." Two Cheers for Democracy. Hogarth Press, 1951. Originally published in the Nation, 16 July 1938.

A steady patriot of the world alone,
The friend of every country but his own.

George Canning

More information about this quote

Topic

Citizens of the world Patriotism Globalism

Author

George Canning

Source

New Morality

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1821 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Canning, George. "New Morality." Anti-Jacobin Magazine and Review, 1821.

My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

Carl Schurz

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism

Speaker

Carl Schurz

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1872 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Schurz, Carl. Remarks at senate meeting. Senate meeting. 29 Feb. 1872, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.