Quotes about loyalty

A collection of quotes on the topic of love, partnership, loyalty, people.

Best quotes about loyalty

„Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.“

— William Shakespeare, book The Passionate Pilgrim

Source: The Passionate Pilgrim

„My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins.“

— Manuel L. Quezon president of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944 1878 - 1944

As quoted in John Gunther's Inside Asia. (1939)

„My honor is my loyalty.“

— Heinrich Himmler Nazi officer, Commander of the SS 1900 - 1945

Himmler formulated this as the watchword of the Schultzstaffel, an organization that eventually became an enormous organization ranging from the staff of the concentration camps to the Gestapo and SD, to the Waffen-SS, Hitler's personal soldiers. Above all else, Himmler and the rest of the Nazi leadership stressed the importance of loyalty to the Reich and the Fuehrer. As translated in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), by Hannah Arendt Ch. 10
Undated

„Love and loyalty runs deeper than blood.“

— Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

„Respect, Honesty, Courage, Rectitude, Loyalty, Honour, Benevolence“

— Tsunetomo Yamamoto, book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

„A person who deserves my loyalty receives it.“

— Joyce Maynard American writer 1953

Source: Looking Back: A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties

„Sovereignty, loyalty, and solitude.“

— Georges Bataille French intellectual and literary figure 1897 - 1962

Source: The Unfinished System of Nonknowledge

„Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp with truth and loyalty.“

— William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

„Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.“

— Anthony Robbins Author, actor, professional speaker 1960

„The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.“

— Gautama Buddha philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism -563 - -483 BC

All quotes about loyalty

Total 441 quotes loyalty, filter:

„Life isn't about how popular you are… What girl or boy you are dating or who you know.Life is about always being true to who you are or what you believe in. Never let anyone convince you that their way is better than your way. In the end all we have is our hearts… and our minds. This is the reason we sing… this is the reason we cry… this is why we live.“

— Andrew Biersack American singer-songwriter 1990

Life, Way, Girl, Boy

„Mara Margetić from Slavonski Kobaš stands next to Marija Bursać from Kamenica, or even to Judith the daughter of Merari from Bethulia. What a moving example of love, perseverance and loyalty!“

— Vinko Vrbanić 1951

Women

Love, Daughters, Perseverance

„I learned the real meaning of love. Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that's love, even if it doesn't seem very exciting.“

— Sylvester Stallone American actor, screenwriter, and film director 1946

Love, People, Learning, Dependency

„A faithful friend is a strong defense;
And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.“

— Louisa May Alcott American novelist 1832 - 1888

Faith, Strong

„I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me. I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance. I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparisons. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement. Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals. And on top of everything I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve my patience.“

— Meryl Streep American actress 1949

Misattributed to Meryl Streep (and widely disseminated on the Internet as of August/September 2014), this quote is allegedly a translation of a text by the author José Micard Teixeira, the original of which begins (in Portuguese): "Já não tenho paciência para algumas coisas, não porque me tenha tornado arrogante..."
Misattributed

Love, Life, Hate, Friendship

„For showing loyalty in the midst of prosperity calls for no particular admiration, but always, if men show themselves steadfast when friends have fallen upon misfortunes, this is remembered for all times.“

— Xenophon ancient Greek historian and philosopher -430 - -354 BC

Hellenica Bk. 4, as translated by Carleton L. Brownson (1918)

Men, Time

„Women’s loyalty has to be earned with trust and affection, rather than barbaric rituals. The time has come to leave the old ways of suffering behind“

— Waris Dirie, book Desert Flower

Source: Desert Flower

Women, Way, Suffering, Time

„If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.“

— James Herriot veterinary surgeon and writer 1916 - 1995

Source: All Creatures Great and Small

Love, Feeling, Soul, Animals

„Learning is to a man as the leaves and branches are to a tree, and it can be said that he should not be without it. Learning is not only reading books, however, but is rather something that we study to integrate with our own way of life.
One who is born into the house of a warrior, regardless of his rank or class, first acquaints himself with a man of military feats and achievements in loyalty, and, listening to just one of his dictums each day, will in a month know 30 precepts. Needless to say, if in a year he learns 300 precepts, at the end of that time he will be much the better.
Thus, a man can divide his mind into three parts: he should throw out those thoughts that are evil, take up those ideas that are good, and become intimate with his own wisdom… I would honor and call wise the man who penetrates this principle, though he lacks the knowledge of a single Chinese character. As for those who are learned in other matters, I would avoid them regardless of how deep their knowledge might be. That is how shallow and untalented this monk is.“

— Takeda Shingen Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku period 1521 - 1573

William Scott Wilson, ‎Gregory Lee. Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors, 1982. p 95

Life, Wisdom, Books, Way

— Jonathan Haidt, book The Righteous Mind

The Righteous Mind (2012)

Way, Understanding

„People who respect nothing dread fear. It is upon fear, therefore, that I have built up my organization. But understand me correctly, please. Those who work with me are afraid of nothing. Those who work for me are kept faithful, not so much because of their pay as because they know what might be done with them if they broke faith.“

— Al Capone American gangster 1899 - 1947

Fear, Faith, People, Understanding

„As one gains wisdom, you will realize that the number of friends is not important as the quality of them. The characteristics of quality friendship include trust, loyalty, respect, and time.“

— RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1980

Time, Friendship, Wisdom

„I have given Him my faith, and sworn my allegiance to Him; how, then, can I go back from this, and not be hanged as a traitor?“

— John Bunyan English Christian writer and preacher 1628 - 1688

Source: The Pilgrims Progress

Faith

„Don't worry about being effective. Just concentrate on being faithful to the truth.“

— Dorothy Day Social activist 1897 - 1980

Truth, Faith

„The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.“

— Mario Puzo American Novelist 1920 - 1999

Family, Family

„That's what the democratic parties personify: business groups! Nothing more. 'Weltanschauung? What kind of reactionary expression is that? Honor, loyalty, creed, convictions? Man, you are living in yesterday!“

— Joseph Goebbels Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister 1897 - 1945

So sind die Parteien der Demokratie: Geschäftsgruppen! Weiter nichts. Weltanschauung? Was ist das für ein reaktionärer Begriff? Ehre, Treue, Glauben, Überzeugung? Mann, sie sind von Gestern!
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)

Business

„Some laymen feel that, out of loyalty, they ought to cling to ancient ways of expressing the Christian faith and that to doubt is to sin. But doubt is not the enemy of faith. It is the growing edge of faith...“

— Leslie Weatherhead English theologian 1893 - 1976

Source: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.227 [ellipsis added]

Faith, Way, Feeling

„Loyalty is not a small thing. I'm an old Irish pol. No loyalty is owed, if no loyalty was given.“

— Mike Murphy (political consultant) American political consultant 1962

As quoted in "Debriefing Mike Murphy" https://www.weeklystandard.com/matt-labash/debriefing-mike-murphy (18 March 2016), by Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard
2010s

„When I spoke about Bond with Fleming, he said that when the character was conceived, Bond was a very simple, straightforward, blunt instrument of the police force, a functionary who would carry out his job rather doggedly. But he also had a lot of idiosyncrasies that were considered snobbish -- such as a taste for special wines, et cetera. But if you take Bond in the situations that he is constantly involved with, you see that it is a very hard, high, unusual league that he plays in. Therefore he is quite right in having all his senses satisfied -- be it sex, wine, food or clothes -- because the job, and he with it, may terminate at any minute. But the virtues that Amis mentions -- loyalty, honesty -- are there, too.“

— Sean Connery Scottish actor and producer 1930

PLAYBOY interview November 1965.

Food, Sex, Sense, Wine

„Loyalty… is a realization that America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation.“

— Henry Steele Commager American historian 1902 - 1998

Source: Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954), p. 154

„That loyalty to the country comes ahead of all other loyalties. And this is an absolute loyalty, since one cannot weight it in terms of what one receives.“

— Lal Bahadur Shastri The second Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a leader of the Indian National Congress party 1904 - 1966

About Patriotism

Country

„It should not surprise Muslims if doubts were entertained about their loyalty. They could not ride on two horses.“

— Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indian freedom fighter who forged united India 1875 - 1950

Patel complaining about the Indian Muslims' silence over Kashmir in a speech in Lucknow in 1948, quoted in B.D. Graham: Hindu Nationalism and quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2014). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p.349

Horse

„There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent.“

— George S. Patton United States Army general 1885 - 1945

War As I Knew It (1947); also quoted in Patton's One-Minute Messages: Tactical Leadership Skills for Business Management (1995) by Charles M. Province, p. 88
Context: There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates.

„I want to grow old without facelifts… I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I've made. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you.“

— Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer 1926 - 1962

Life, Age, Courage, Thinking

„Honesty and loyalty work in collaboration with each other; therefore, where you find dishonesty, lives disloyalty.“

— RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1976

„As a social bond, now one does not find even a faith of the warrior kind, that is, relationships of loyalty and honour. The social bond assumes a utilitarian and economic character; it is an agreement based on convenience and material interest — a type only a merchant would accept.“

— Julius Evola Italian philosopher and esotericist 1898 - 1974

Gli Uomini e le Rovine (1953), p. 34

Faith

„Since the revolution, I have done all that depended upon me to return happiness to my country and to ensure liberty for my fellow citizens. Forced to combat internal and external enemies of the French Republic, I made war with courage, honor and loyalty. I have never strayed from the rules of justice with my enemies as much as was in my power I sought to soften the horrors of war, to spare the blood of men.“

— Toussaint Louverture Leader of the Haitian Revolution 1743 - 1803

Courage, Justice, Dependency, Country

„Morality consists of reproduction, survival of the race, and loyalty to our comrades. And not much else.“

— David Lane (white nationalist) American white supremacist, convicted felon 1938 - 2007

page ?
Reality Denial

„Those who betray an oath of loyalty and commitment are in training to become a master of deceit and deception.“

— RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

2016

Training

„There are many ways to motivate people to do things, but loyalty comes from the ability to inspire people.“

— Simon Sinek British/American author and motivational speaker 1973

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Motivation, Way, People

„We have to recognise that there cannot be relationships unless there is commitment, unless there is loyalty, unless there is love, patience, persistence.“

— Cornel West African-American philosopher and political/civil rights activist 1953

Source: Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life

Love, Patience, Relationship

„There are no secrets to success: don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence.“

— Colin Powell Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general 1937

Secret, Failure, Learning, Time

„Where loyalty bound creatures together, they became something larger, something new and whole and inexplicable.“

— Orson Scott Card American science fiction novelist 1951

„It occurred to me then that it was in times of struggle that I found the best parts of myself - courage, loyalty, an unexpected peace - and I always discovered what I needed to break through and go on.“

— Patrick Carman, book Stargazer

Source: Stargazer

Peace, Courage, Time, Parting

„The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.“

— Abraham Joshua Heschel Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi 1907 - 1972

Problem

„We are a family, and the loyalty of the family must come before anything and everyone else. For if we honor that commitment, we will never be vanquished-but if we falter in that loyalty we will all be condemned.“

— Mario Puzo, book The Family

Source: The Family

Family

„There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.“

— Oscar Wilde Irish writer and poet 1854 - 1900

Variant: There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.

„Love and Loyalty, run deeper than blood." Love that quote even though I haven't read the book.“

— Richelle Mead American writer 1976

Love, Books, Quotes, Reading

„Loyalty is weird, it kicks in when you dont expect it and the people who deserve loyalty least seem to get it the most.“

— Russell Banks American author 1940

People

„It was a lesson most people learned much earlier; that even friendship could have an undisclosed shelf life. That loyalty and affection, so consuming and powerful, could dissipate like fog.“

— Jennifer Haigh Novelist 1968

Source: The Condition

Life, Friendship, People, Learning

„The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.“

— George Orwell English author and journalist 1903 - 1950

Reflections on Gandhi (1949)
Source: In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950

Love, Life, Perfection

„There are some people who will never understand what
loyalty means. They could tell you what it was, of course,
but they will never know. They will never see it from the inside.
They couldn't imagine a world where something like that was real.“

— Jim Butcher, book First Lord's Fury

Source: First Lord's Fury

People, World, Imagination, Understanding

„Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will.“

— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910

"Consistency" (5 December 1887). This quote is engraved on Twain's bust in the National Hall of Fame

World, Soul

„But what are loyalty and caring really worth?"
"To me? Everything.“

— Richelle Mead, book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

„His loyalty, so fierce and unwavering, makes my eyes water and heart ache.“

— Emily Giffin American writer 1972

Water, Heart

„It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.“

— Megan Whalen Turner, The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Personality

„Behold your new mistress, my wife," he pronounced, "and know that when she
bids you, I have bidden you. What service you render her, you are rendering me. What loyalty you give or withhold from her, you give or withhold from me!"

-Royce Westmoreland“

— Judith McNaught, book A Kingdom of Dreams

Source: A Kingdom of Dreams

„I may be stupid, as you say, to believe in honour and friendship and loyalty without price. But these are virtues to be cherished, for without them we are no more than beasts roaming the land.“

— David Gemmell British author of heroic fantasy 1948 - 2006

Source: Shield of Thunder

Friendship, Stupidity

„The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else.“

— Alain de Botton Swiss writer 1969

„Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.“

— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910

Part VI: "Two Fragments from a Suppressed Book Called 'Glances at History' or 'Outlines of History' ".
Papers of the Adams Family (1939)
Variant: Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.
Context: In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country — hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of.
Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.
This Republic's life is not in peril. The nation has sold its honor for a phrase. It has swung itself loose from its safe anchorage and is drifting, its helm is in pirate hands.

Support, Time, Country

„Unlike the puerile loyalty to a conviction, loyalty to a friend is a virtue - perhaps the only virtue, the last remaining one.“

— Milan Kundera, book Encounter

Source: Encounter

„He didn't say anything more, just waited for me to tell him what I'd been thinking. It was pure speculation, and I was opening myself up to ridicule by saying anything at all. I sat on the stool and realized that I had my loyalties, too.“

— Patricia Briggs American writer 1965

Thinking, Waiting

„Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.“

— Martin Luther seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483 - 1546

Rage

„No matter what happens, you will always be Pack. Because you have that loyalty and restraint. Not human, not whatever, but Kate. Unique and different, but not separate.“

— Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Rises

„Far from being the father of jihad, Mohammad was a peacemaker, who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closest companions because he was determined to effect a reconciliation with Mecca.“

— Karen Armstrong author and comparative religion scholar from Great Britain 1944

Source: Muhammad: A Biography of The Prophet (2001)

Life

„You will find joy, frustration and sorrow in your quest. Never forget that friendship and loyalty are more precious than riches… Happiness can be brief, but it knows no time in the land of dreams.“

— Brian Jacques British fiction writer known for Redwall animal fantasy novels 1939 - 2011

Source: Pearls of Lutra

Friendship, Dreams, Time, Joy

„He is a Shadowhunter,” said Jocelyn. “His loyalty will be to Clave and Covenant.”
“He’s my friend,” said Magnus coldly. “His loyalty is to me.“

— Cassandra Clare, The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

„Would you?” said Gabriel to Will, hotly. “If it was your family?” His lip curled. “Never mind. It’s not as if you know the meaning of loyalty —”
“Gabriel.” Gideon’s voice was a reprimand to his brother. “Do not speak to Will in that manner.“

— Cassandra Clare, book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Family

„Wasn't it? Is loyalty still a commendable quality when it is misdirected?“

— Cassandra Clare, book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

„Young men want to be faithful, and are not. Old men want to be faithless, and cannot.“

— Oscar Wilde Irish writer and poet 1854 - 1900

Men, Faith

„Isabelle," she said, lightening her tone with an obvious effort, "your loyalty to your friend is understandable --"
"He's not my friend." Isabelle looked over at Jace, who was staring at her in a sort of daze. "He's my brother.“

— Cassandra Clare, book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Understanding, Effort

„Because I know you, Percy Jackson. In many ways, you are impulsive, but when it comes to your friends, you are as constant as a compass needle. You are unswervingly loyal, and you inspire loyalty. You are the glue that will unite the seven.“

— Rick Riordan, book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Way

„In the end--when all else is dust--loyalty to those we love is all we can carry with us to the grave. Faith--true faith--was trusting in that love.“

— Dan Simmons, book The Fall of Hyperion

Variant: Sol remembered the dream, remembered his daughter’s hug, and realized that in the end—when all else is dust—loyalty to those we love is all we can carry with us to the grave.
Source: The Fall of Hyperion (1990), Chapter 30 (p. 242)

Love, Faith

„The scholar does not consider gold and jade to be precious treasures, but loyalty and good faith.“

— Confucius Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551 - -479 BC

Source: The Ethics of Confucius

Faith

„… The queen's mocking laughter cut in. "is your treasure, Lord Sheftu?"

"Aye. The greatest treasure in Egypt—a maid whose loyalty cannot be bought. Whatever bargain we make, Daughter of the Sun, must include her freedom.“

— Eloise Jarvis McGraw, book Mara, Daughter of the Nile

Source: Mara, Daughter of the Nile

Laughter, Freedom, Sun, Daughters

„your loved ones have been used to lure you into Kronos's traps. Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty Percy. You do not know when it is time to cut your losses. To save a friend you would sacrifice the world.“

— Rick Riordan, book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Love, World, Loss, Time

„Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.“

— James Madison 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817) 1751 - 1836

Letter to Jacob De La Motta (August 1820), Manuscript Division, Papers of James Madison http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/madison.html
1820s
Context: Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.
Context: Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. And it is particularly pleasing to observe in the good citizenship of such as have been most distrusted and oppressed elsewhere, a happy illustration of the safety and success of this experiment of a just and benignant policy. Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.

Love, Law, Country

„Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man must develop himself; if he has them forced down him, he will vomit them out.“

— Robert A. Heinlein, book Starship Troopers

Source: Starship Troopers

Family, Imagination

„A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual incomprehension.“

— Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Source: Gilead

Love

„A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind.“

— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968

1960s, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Context: A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. This oft misunderstood, this oft misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.

Love, Reality

„You can know a thing to death and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it. A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual incomprehension.“

— Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Source: Gilead

Love, Death

„The undead did not love, but they remembered love with a savage loyalty.“

— Kim Harrison Pseudonym 1966

Source: A Perfect Blood

Love

„If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.

(, 1928)“

— Elbert Hubbard American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul 1856 - 1915

Source: Works of Elbert Hubbard

„I think I'd probably tell you that it's easier to desire and pursue the attention of tens of millions of total strangers than it is to accept the love and loyalty of the people closest to us.“

— William Gibson, book Idoru

Source: Idoru

Love, People, Thinking

„I convinced her that her first loyalty isn't to other people, but to her own feelings.“

— Mario Vargas Llosa, book The Bad Girl

Source: Travesuras de la niña mala

People, Feeling

„I always think loyalty's such a tiresome virtue.“

— Agatha Christie, book Peril at End House

Source: Peril at End House

Thinking

„Love is a Christian word, Anjin-san. Love is a Christian thought, a Christian ideal. We have no word for 'love' as I understand you to mean it. Duty, loyalty, honor, respect, desire, those words and thoughts are what we have, all that we need.“

— James Clavell, book Shōgun

Source: Shōgun

Love, Understanding

„Remember, attraction is only one part of a relationship. Loyalty, commitment, responsibility and maturity make up the rest.“

— Ruth Westheimer American sex therapist 1928

Parting

„Q. You do not consider your statement a disloyal one?
A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty.
Q. You are sure that your statement represents scientific truth?
A. I am.“

— Isaac Asimov, book Foundation

Part I, The Psychohistorians, section 6
Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

Truth

„Loyalty was a funny thing. So was love. They both bit you when you least expected it.“

— Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Peaches

Love

„He liked the works of his friends, which is beautiful as loyalty but can be disastrous as judgement.“

— Ernest Hemingway, book A Moveable Feast

Source: A Moveable Feast

Beauty

„I liked the idea of representing nobody but myself. No affiliation, no ties, no loyalties.“

— Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson American writer and activist 1941

Final Analysis (1990)

Idea

„He took his way to the abode of sacred Loyalty, seeking to discover her hidden purpose. It chanced that the goddess, who loves solitude, was then in a distant region of heaven, pondering in her heart the high concerns of the gods. Then he who gave peace to Nemea accosted her thus with reverence: "Goddess more ancient than Jupiter, glory of gods and men, without whom neither sea nor land finds peace, sister of Justice…"“
Ad limina sanctae contendit Fidei secretaque pectora temptat. arcanis dea laeta polo tum forte remoto caelicolum magnas uoluebat conscia curas. quam tali adloquitur Nemeae pacator honore: 'Ante Iouem generata, decus diuumque hominumque, qua sine non tellus pacem, non aequora norunt, iustitiae consors...'

— Silius Italicus, Punica

Book II, lines 479–486
Punica

Love, Men, God, Peace

„What can stand against loyalty? It is the faith that moves mountains.“

— John Buchan British politician 1875 - 1940

Source: Midwinter (1923), Ch. X

Faith, Mountain

„The conservation, selection, and conversion of cultural achievements is not only a fact; it is also a morally inescapable requirement, which the exclusive Christian must meet because he is a Christian and a man. If he is to confess Jesus before men, he must do so by means of words and ideas derived from culture, though a change of meaning is also necessary. … If he is to say what "love" means he must choose among such words as "eros," "philanthropia" and "agape," or "charity," "loyalty" and "love"—seeking one that comes close to the meaning of Jesus Christ, and modifying it by use in context. These things he must do, not only that he may communicate, but also that he may himself know whom and what he believes. When he undertakes to fulfill the demands of Jesus Christ, he finds himself partly under the necessity of translating into the terms of his own culture what was commanded in the terms of another.“

— H. Richard Niebuhr American theologian 1894 - 1962

Source: Christ and Culture (1951), pp. 70-71

Love, Men, Communication, Idea

„National loyalty involves a love of home and a preparedness to defend it; nationalism is a belligerent ideology, which uses national symbols in order to conscript the people to war.“

— Roger Scruton English philosopher 1944 - 2020

England and the Need for Nations (2006)

Love, War, People, Home

„Let us learn wisdom from this illustrious example. We have passed the Red Sea of slaughter; our garments are yet wet with its crimson spray. We have crossed the fearful wilderness of war, and have led our four hundred thousand heroes to sleep beside the dead enemies of the Republic. We have heard the voice of God amid the thunders of battle commanding us to wash our hands of iniquity, to 'proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' When we spurned his counsels we were defeated, and the gulfs of ruin yawned before us. When we obeyed his voice, he gave us victory. And now at last we have reached the confines of the wilderness. Before us is the land of promise, the land of hope, the land of peace, filled with possibilities of greatness and glory too vast for the grasp of the imagination. Are we worthy to enter it? On what condition may it be ours to enjoy and transmit to our children's children? Let us pause and make deliberate and solemn preparation. Let us, as representatives of the people, whose servants we are, bear in advance the sacred ark of republican liberty, with its tables of the law inscribed with the 'irreversible guaranties' of liberty. Let us here build a monument on which shall be written not only the curses of the law against treason, disloyalty, and oppression, but also an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing with loyalty, liberty, and obedience; and all the people will say, Amen.“

— James A. Garfield American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881) 1831 - 1881

1860s, Speech in the House of Representatives (1866)

Wisdom, God, War, Children

„The theory of repeated games is able to account for phenomena such as altruism, cooperation, trust, loyalty, revenge, threats (self-destructive or otherwise) – phenomena that may at ﬁrst seem irrational – in terms of the “selﬁsh” utility-maximizing paradigm of game theory and neoclassical economics.“

— Robert Aumann Israeli-American mathematician 1930

Source: War and peace (2005), p. 3

Game, Revenge

„Up to a certain point it is good for us to know that there are people in the world who will give us love and unquestioned loyalty to the limit of their ability. I doubt, however, if it is good for us to feel assured of this without the accompanying obligation of having to justify this devotion by our behavior.“

— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962

This Is My Story (1937)

Love, People, World, Behavior

„Before anything else I would like to say good day to all of the Venezuelan people, and this Boliviarian message is directed to the brave soldiers in the Parachutist Regimen of Aragua and the Armed Brigade of Valencia. Friends: For now, lamentably, the objectives we considered were not achieved in the capital. That is to say, we here in Caracas have not managed to take power. You did very well over there, but now is the time to reflect; new situations will come and the country must definitively get on the path to a better destiny. So hear my word; hear Commander Chávez, who sends you this message so that you may please reflect and put down your weapons, because now, really, the objectives that we have brought to the national level are impossible to achieve. Friends: Hear this message of solidarity. I thank you for your loyalty, your valor, your exuberance, and I, before this country and before you all, assume responsibility for this Boliviarian militant movement. Thank you.“

— Hugo Chávez 48th President of Venezuela 1954 - 2013

Hugo Chávez to Venezuelan television reporters just before being arrested for his participation in an attempted coup d'état, February 1992.
1992

People, Time, Country

„I do not believe that the loyalty of those many who over those 270 years, and particularly in this century, worked together and died together as part of the union under the Crown, was to the Crown quite simply, even though they wore the Crown on their uniforms and many of them wore it on their hearts. They were not the mercenaries of a Habsburg empire bound together by personal union and dynastic marriages; they were not the servants of a Hohenzollern empire imposed by military force. It was the Crown of the United Kingdom in parliament which was the centre of loyalty, as it is the essential unifying element of this realm, in the name of which and under the inspiration of which men and women these 270 years have worked and lived and died together.“

— Enoch Powell British politician 1912 - 1998

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1976/jan/19/devolution-scotland-and-wales in the House of Commons (19 January 1976) against devolution to Scotland.
1970s

Women, Men, Marriage, Heart

„How well I know that loyalty brings disaster.“

— Qu Yuan ancient Chinese poet -343 - -278 BC

Original: (zh) 余固知謇謇之为患兮。
Source: "Encountering Sorrow" (trans. David Hawkes), Line 21

„Special interests and the demented philosophy of conquest have driven most wars throughout history. Rarely has the cause of liberty, as it was in our own revolution, been the driving force. In recent decades our policies have been driven by neo-conservative empire radicalism, profiteering in the military industrial complex, misplaced do-good internationalism, mercantilistic notions regarding the need to control natural resources, and blind loyalty to various governments in the Middle East.“

— Ron Paul American politician and physician 1935

Statement on the Iraq War Resolution http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr021407.htm (February 14, 2007).
2000s, 2006-2009

War, History, Nature

„He was acting on a reason other than the avoidance of pain. The sentiment was loyalty, and it felt glorious.“

— Vanna Bonta, book Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel

Source: Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel (1995), Ch. 3

Pain

„Books are still being written defaming H. P. B. and Mrs. Besant and one wonders what their writers hope to achieve. As far as I can ascertain the modern generation of investigating students are not the least interested in the pros or cons of their characters… What they are interested in is the teaching and the truth. This is wholesome and right. I wish these modern writers who spend months in raking up dirt and endeavoring to prove someone was vile would realise the stupidity of their activities. They do not touch the truth; they do not change the loyalties of those who know; they do not change the trend towards occult realisation and they hurt nobody but themselves.“

— Alice A. Bailey esoteric, theosophist, writer 1880 - 1949

Source: The Unfinished Autobiography (1951), Chapter V - Part 1

Truth, Books, Stupidity, Hope

„[I]n this life-long fight, to be waged by everyone of us as single-handed against a host of foes, the last requisite for a good fight, the last proof and test of our courage and manfulness, must be loyalty to truth — the most rare and difficult of all human qualities. For such loyalty, as it grows in perfection, asks ever more and more of us, and sets before us a standard of manliness always rising higher and higher.“

— Thomas Hughes English lawyer, author and cricketer 1822 - 1896

Part II
The Manliness of Christ (1879)

Life, Truth, Courage, Fight

„In the Islamic world, from the beginning, Islam was the primary basis of both identity and loyalty. We think of a nation subdivided into religions. They think, rather, of a religion subdivided into nations. It is the ultimate definition, the prime definition and the one that determines, as I said, not only identity, but also basic loyalty. And this is quite independent of religious belief. In Islam, there isn't or rather, there wasn't until recently any such thing as the church, in the Christian sense of that word. The mosque is a place of worship. It's a building, a place of worship and study. And in that sense, it is the equivalent of the church. But in the sense of an institution with a hierarchy and its own laws and usages, there was no such thing in Islam until very recently. And one of the achievements of the Islamic Revolution in Iran has been to endow an Islamic country for the first time with the equivalents of a pope, a college of cardinals, a bench of bishops and, above all, an inquisition. All these were previously unknown and nonexistent in the Islamic world.“

— Bernard Lewis British-American historian 1916 - 2018

Books, Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis (2006)

World, Religion, Law, Thinking

„Not that freedom ensured happiness. Indeed, to be free was to live in absence. Of responsibilities, of loyalties, of the pressures that expectation imposed.“

— Steven Erikson, book House of Chains

House of Chains (2002)

Freedom, Happiness

„Senators undertake to disturb us… by reminding us of the possibility of large numbers swarming from China; but the answer to all this is very obvious and very simple. If the Chinese come here, they will come for citizenship or merely for labor. If they come for citizenship, then in this desire do they give a pledge of loyalty to our institutions; and where is the peril in such vows? They are peaceful and industrious; how can their citizenship be the occasion of solicitude?“

— Charles Sumner American abolitionist and politician 1811 - 1874

Speech https://books.google.com/books?id=HGM9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA5172&lpg=PA5172&dq=%22Worse+than+any+heathen+or+pagan+abroad+are+those+in+our+midst+who+are+false+to+our+institutions.%22&source=bl&ots=n-wpUEfhND&sig=wHyJSOd8M1rswurZUUnUgAFrTn0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXtt2swKjLAhWFGD4KHWCjBDsQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22Worse%20than%20any%20heathen%20or%20pagan%20abroad%20are%20those%20in%20our%20midst%20who%20are%20false%20to%20our%20institutions.%22&f=false (4 July 1870)

Peace

„Collectivism stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people's lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.“

— Geert Hofstede Dutch psychologist 1928

Source: Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values (1980), p. 51.

People, Birth, Strong