“Except for half a dozen in each town the citizens are proud of that achievement of ignorance which is so easy to come by. To be 'intellectual' or 'artistic' or, in their own word, to be 'highbrow,' is to be priggish and of dubious virtue.”

Aphorism 4
Les Caractères (1688), De la ville
Context: The town is divided into various groups, which form so many little states, each with its own laws and customs, its jargon and its jokes. While the association holds and the fashion lasts, they admit nothing well said or well done except by one of themselves, and they are incapable of appeciating anything from another source, to the point of despising those who are not initiated into their mysteries.

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 18 “Collision” section 4, p. 377

"Jean Genet: A Modern Nihilist", p. 102
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)

Speech to the same crowd of 5,000, as recounted by a different source, quoted in [Gray, John S., 1986, The Story of Mrs. Picotte-Galpin, a Sioux Heroine: Eagle Woman Becomes a Trader and Counsels for Peace, 1868-1888, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4518988, Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 36, 3, 2–21, 0026-9891]

"Primer Lessons" (1922)

Quoted in The fascist Salazar: Salazar and national-syndicalism: the story of a conflict, 1932-1935 - page 90, of John Medina - Published by Livraria Bertrand, 1978 - 249 pages

All the Trouble in the World (1994)

“What’s Wrong with Being Proud?”
Pieces of Eight (1982)
Context: Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest,” but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.