Quotes about nation (7665 quotes, page 76)

“If the life of one girl changes through education, she changes three families – one, her own, second the in which she gets married into, and third the one she builds. This moves the nation on its path to progress.”

Vinod Gupta (1946) American businessman

Your Story, How this Indian-born American ensured his village in UP got the educational institutes it deserves, Shinjini, Chowdhury, September 3, 2018 https://yourstory.com/2018/09/vinod-gupta-up-education,

Family , Girl , Education , Life

“I believe as firmly as I believe any other historical truth—that no nation ever suffered so much from another nation as the Irish have suffered from the English—or for so long a time.”

William Smith O'Brien (1803–1864) Irish nationalist politician (1803-1864)

14 January letter to John Martin: 14, Correspondence between John Martin and William Smith O'Brien relative to a French invasion, 1861 https://books.google.com/books?id=uioenbWx30MC&pg=PA14,

Time , Suffering , Truth

“By worrying a lot, we become a nation of worries.”

Isabelo Caiban Abarquez (1959) Filipino Roman Catholic priest

Calbayog bishop shares 3 elements of a ‘peaceful life’ https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/calbayog-bishop-shares-3-elements-of-a-peaceful-life/ (May 23, 2018)

“We're making a mountain out of a mole hill. We're creating laws. We're trying to deal with this. Deal with the obvious: We do not seem as a nation to be able to solve this problem the way we've been approaching it.”

Mike Gravel (1930–2021) American politician; United States Senator

NPR Democratic Candidates Debate

Law , Mountain , Problem , Way

“The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.”

George Eliot book The Mill on the Floss

Book VI, ch. iii
The Mill on the Floss (1860)

History , Women

“Boundaries between noise and sound are conventions, I see now. All boundaries are conventions, national ones too. One may transcend any convention, if only one can first conceive of doing so.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"Letters from Zedelghem", p. 460
Cloud Atlas (2004), Letters from Zedelghem (Part 2)

“We persist in regarding ourselves as a great power, capable of everything and only temporarily handicapped by economic difficulties. We are not a great power and never will be again. We are a great nation, but if we continue to behave like a great power we shall soon cease to be a great nation.”

Henry Tizard (1885–1959) British chemist

Memo written as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Ministry of Defence https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/01/britain-retrenched-island-europe-papers-react-to-brexit-day (1949)

“A strong economy is the source of national strength”

Yoshihide Suga (1948) 99th Prime Minister of Japan

We cannot realize financial reconstruction and enhance social security without a strong economy. We must correct what we find objectively wrong. What I always keep in mind is that we'll take action on things that need to be done, promptly and without hesitation

Strong

“A nation without women is as good as no nation at all. A world without women is as good as no world at all”

Thokozani Khuphe (1963) Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Gender Equality A Right (2010)

World , Women

“As women we are workers, organisers, managers, advisers and more importantly nation builders. One woman can make a difference but many women can change the world.”

Thokozani Khuphe (1963) Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Source: Zimbabwe: Gender Equality A Right (2010)

World , Change , Women

“We need a paradigm shift from a male-dominated economic mantra to an inclusive and transformational nation- building approach that can be enshrined in our people-driven constitution”

Thokozani Khuphe (1963) Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Source: Zimbabwe: Recognise Women's Role - Khupe http://www.peacewomen.org/content/zimbabwe-recognise-womens-role-khupe

People

“We Croatians are suffering from an overdose of history during the past century. Of course we still have some nationalism. But the feelings are slowly cooling down.”

Zoran Milanović (1966) Croatian politician

Source: "'Germany Is a Role Model for Us'" in Speigel International https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-croatian-prime-minister-milanovic-germany-is-a-role-model-a-856179.html (17 September 2012)

History , Past , Suffering , Feeling

“The brightest representatives of the Islamic diaspora have long figured out how to use this liberalism to blow up the remnants of the nation-state, free themselves from the weak authority of the republic, and establish the law of Allah in their own enclaves.”

Éric Zemmour (1958) French essayist

Will Eric Zemmour become France's Trump? https://www.wyniasweek.nl/wordt-eric-zemmour-de-franse-trump/

Law

“Paid leave should be a national right, rather than a patchwork option limited to those whose employers have policies in place, or those who live in one of the few states where a leave program exists”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (1981) American former actress and member by marriage of the British royal family

Source: In a letter to Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi " Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, urges Schumer and Pelosi to pass federal paid family leave https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/21/politics/meghan-duchess-of-sussex-paid-family-leave/index.html" (October 21, 2021)

“I and the queen are pleased and delighted to see the people having goodwill. Your unity in showing your goodwill is a good sign for everyone to do good things for the prosperity of the nation.”

Vajiralongkorn (1952) King of Thailand

Source: "Thailand’s new king addresses the public after his gilded coronation" in The Washington Post https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fY8Vv0ocxokJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thailands-new-king-addresses-the-public-after-his-gilded-coronation/2019/05/06/b517354c-6e85-11e9-bbe7-1c798fb80536_story.html+&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (6 May 2019)

People

“I invite everyone here and all Thai people to share my determination and work together, each according to his status and duty, with the nation’s prosperity and the people’s happiness as the ultimate goals.”

Vajiralongkorn (1952) King of Thailand

Source: "'I shall reign with righteousness': Thailand crowns king in ornate ceremonies" in Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-king-coronation/i-shall-reign-with-righteousness-thailand-crowns-king-in-ornate-ceremonies-idUSKCN1S924H (3 May 2019)

Happiness , People

“The customs of that most criminal nation have gained such strength that they have now been received in all lands. The conquered have given laws to the conquerors.”

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

De Superstitione (On Superstition)
Source: Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe https://books.google.com.br/books?id=wefkDwAAQBAJ&pg=108 by Robert Orlando; p. 108

Law

“The Jews belong to a dark and repulsive force. One knows how numerous this clique is, how they stick together and what power they exercise through their unions. They are a nation of rascals and deceivers.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Oration in Defense of Flaccus. See Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe https://books.google.com.br/books?id=wefkDwAAQBAJ&pg=108 by Robert Orlando, p. 108.

Exercises

“We have two big neighbors, and, of course, we are really striving to maintain neighborly good relations with our two neighbors. As well, we want to have good relations with other nations. All those other nations we call our third neighbor.”

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician

Source: "Locked Between Two Large Neighbors, Mongolia Seeks to Connect With the World" in IPI Global Observatory https://theglobalobservatory.org/2013/10/locked-between-two-large-neighbors-mongolia-seeks-to-connect-with-the-world/ (4 October 2013)
Context: This is the concept after 1990.

“In Islam, it is an obligation to prepare yourself for defense and to train. This is no different than any nation having its young people train to defend the nation.”

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (1965) One of Al-Qaeda's official spokesmen

Source: Kronos US v Sulaiman Abu Ghayth Statement https://kronosadvisory.com/Kronos_US_v_Sulaiman_Abu_Ghayth_Statement.1.pdf (1st March 2013)

People , Training

“When National Socialism has ruled long enough, it will no longer be possible to conceive of a form of life different from ours.
In the long run, National Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Source: 11-12 July 1941, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944

Religion , Life

“The economic stress [struggle] among […] all nations, […] will be considerable and is certain to lead to increasingly desperate competition for diminishing supplies of oil and every other resource.”

James Howard Kunstler book The Long Emergency

Source: The Long Emergency (2005), Chapter 3, p. 68.

“We are spending 6 per cent more than we are earning... You can also bankrupt a nation by excessive wage demands... That is why I said that it is better to have a lower standard of life for all workers than for some of them to be unemployed.”

Denis Healey (1917–2015) British Labour Party politician and Life peer

1970s
Source: Remarks to the Liaison Committee with the Trades Union Congress at Congress House (20 January 1975), quoted in Barbara Castle, The Castle Diaries, 1974–76 (1980), pp. 284-285

Life

“Of course, we in the so-called developed countries thought we were civilized. At least war wasn't respectable any more, and the United Nations was always doing its best to stop the wars that did break out. Not very successfully: I'd give it about three out of ten...”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host

1990s, 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)

War , Country

“Never were there more gross absurdities, nor half so many in so short a time, committed in any public meeting; and for a National Assembly never did the Church of Christ see the like.”

William Laud (1573–1645) Archbishop of Canterbury

Source: Letter to the Marquis of Hamilton (3 December 1638), quoted in The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Volume VI—Part II. Letters—Notes on Bellarmine (1857), p. 547

Time , Christ

“Nations will for a long time insist upon a large measure of self-government, but when they begin to see the benefits which accrue from each successive international co-operative development, they will finally grasp the new principle of synthesis, and the age of separation will be over for ever.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Age , Time , Success

“At present nations are held back by fear for the loss of their individuality, and they are quite right, because individual expression is essential.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Loss , Fear

“When several imperialist powers seek to plunder the weaker nations of the world, the result is an imperialist world war for the redistribution of colonies. And this crime, the most monstrous in world history, is committed by the bourgeoisie under the banner of “nationalism.””

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) 2nd President of the People's Republic of China (1898-1969)

Internationalism and Nationalism (1952)
Source: "1.The Bourgeois-Nationalist Concept of the Nation" https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1952/internationalism_nationalism/ch01.htm

History , War , World

“For the Chinese national revolution to succeed, the participation of the masses of all classes and the building of a united front of all classes are necessary. But among the classes taking part in the national revolution, the working class and the peasantry constitute the main force.”

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) 2nd President of the People's Republic of China (1898-1969)

Source: "Mr. Liao Zhongkai and Worker and Peasant Policy" https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1926/09/26.htm (26 September 1926)

Parting

“When independent-thinking people (and here I do not include the corporate media) begin to rally under flags, when writers, painters, musicians, film makers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the service of the “Nation,” it’s time for all of us to sit up and worry.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Source: Articles, Come September (29 Sep 2002)

People , Time , Art , Thinking

“Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Source: Articles, Come September (29 Sep 2002)

“At the present time the issue is the self-interest of several immense nation-groups. The result is much as it would be if the four quarters of a person’s body were arrayed against each other, and the circulation impeded between them. Economical chaos and frustration is the result, on a world scale.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Personality , World , Time

“As a nation, we have the moral obligation to protect our children from sexual abuse. We need to love, nurture and protect these children ensuring that this protection is both emotional and physical.”

Neo Masisi (1962) first lady of Botswana

Source: Neo Masisi https://www.unicef.org/botswana/media/191/file/E-Seng-Mo-Ngwaneng-Report-2019.pdf Campaign Brief, Botswana Country Office: Interim Update (17 January 2019) Retrieved 5 November 2021.

Children , Love

“We aim to develop as a nation where healthy, educated people will live without poverty ... building a democratic country that is environmentally friendly, is connected to international financial networks, has a competitive economy and respects human rights.”

Nambaryn Enkhbayar (1958) Mongolian politician, Leader of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party

Source: "In-depth interview - Reviving Mongolia’s early globalism" in Korea JoongAng Daily https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2007/06/05/people/Indepth-interviewReviving-Mongolias-early-globalism/2876407.html (5 June 2007)

People , Education , Country

“Some even attempt to achieve political ambitions by seizing party and state power, engaging in activities to split the party, and seriously threatening the nation’s political stability.”

Wang Qishan (1948) Chinese politician

Source: "China’s second most powerful man warns of dissent and corruption in the Communist Party" in Quartz https://qz.com/851218/wang-qishan-chinas-second-most-powerful-man-warns-of-dissent-and-systematic-corruption-inside-the-communist-party/ (1 December 2016)

“If all Thai people consider themselves they are the owners of the nation and perform their duties well with honesty, correct and sanctioned, the misery of the people will pass.”

Ananda Mahidol (1925–1946) eighth monarch of Siam from the Chakri dynasty as Rama VIII

Source: Speech on Constitution Day (10 December 1945)

People

“The old condition is passing away. The new dawn of another civilized nation is breaking into the lives of the human race.”

Mary Harris Jones (1837–1930) Irish-born American labor and community organizer

Source: Speech in Williamson, WV. (20 June 1920)

“The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God's permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live.”

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (1965) One of Al-Qaeda's official spokesmen

Source: In full: Al-Qaeda statement http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1590350.stm (10th October, 2001)

God , Youth

“Our soldier's hands are clean; he knows his hard service ... and has no other aim but the good of the nation.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

“It was an enormous struggle to destroy the Belgian nation.”

Julius Caesar book Commentarii de Bello Gallico

A cursory overview of the history of Belgium, applied to the present events, until January 1830, (Issued for the benefit of the fund for the needy relatives of the extended Volunteers from Northern Brabant) 's HERTOGENBOSCH, Ter Boek en Provinciale Courant - Drukkerij Van DE. LION en ZONEN. (Januari 1831) Quoted from Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
De Bello Gallico

“The self-preservation instinct of the nation must be heard. Adventurists must have their hands tied before they push the homeland into the abyss of fratricide.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

“The nation has come to the end of its psychological endurance. Many people are beginning to despair. Now it is not days but hours that separate us from a national catastrophe. Honesty compels one to ask the question: Did things have to come to this?”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

People , Despair , Question

“Love and Mercy transcernds races, nationalities and geographical distance.”

Cheng Yen (1937) Taiwanese Buddhist nun

Source: Master of Love and Mercy: Cheng Yen, p. vi

Love

“The day will come when all nations amidst which the Jews are dwelling will have to raise the question of their wholesale expulsion, a question which will be one of life or death, good health or chronic disease, peaceful existence or perpetual social fever.”

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist

Source: As quoted in Col. E. N. Sanctuary’s Are These Things So?, p. 278.

Health , Disease , Peace , Question

“If the knowledge of foreign languages is particularly useful in our time, that of national languages is a necessity. It is necessary to have them taught to the youth simultaneously, and it is to be desired that their use should become more and more common to all Belgians.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Source: J. Steur, Netherlands. Volume 63 Article from 1959. Quoted from J. Vuylsteke, "Flemish Belgium since 1830: Studies and sketches collected by the general board of the Willemsfonds on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 1905", Willemsfonds, 1905, p. 222. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_nee003195901_01/_nee003195901_01_0114.php King Leopold II and the Queen are invited by the mayor of Brussels, Karel Buls, to attend the first performance in the renovated Flemish theatre, where he gives a speech in Flemish. This was followed by thunderous applause such as 'Long live our Flemish King!'

Time , Knowledge , Youth

“Our national forces have shown that, while you (People's Liberation Army) may have this power, we have countermeasures.”

Chiu Kuo-cheng (1953) Taiwanese military officer

Chiu Kuo-cheng (2021) cited in " Military not worn out by Chinese forays: minister https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2021/11/30/2003768774" on Taipei Times, 30 November 2021.

People

“Climate change is already... costing our nations trillions of dollars and we know that none of us can escape the worse that’s yet to come if we fail to seize this moment.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, November 2021, US President's Statement on Day 2 of the 2021 UN Climate Conference

Change

“Gender-based Violence is not only a blatant violation of human rights, it has consequences for the victims, their families, and nations as a whole.”

Neo Masisi (1962) first lady of Botswana

Neo Masisi https://allafrica.com/stories/202012040594.html Botswana First Lady Neo Jane Masisi Speech delivered at the virtual launch of the W Summit Impact week 2020 (4 December 2020) Retrieved 5 November 2021.

Family

“An accurate history should not only record the periods of glory but the moments of degeneration, of the missed opportunities, and of the failure to forge national unity at crucial junctures in time. It should draw lessons for the future generations from costly errors in the past.”

Subramanian Swamy (1939) Indian politician

2015-Present
Source: Foreword by Subramanian Swamy in Atri, N., & Sagar, M. A. (2017). Brainwashed republic.

Drawing , History , Failure , Time

“Our investment in prevention and research is an investment in our nations … it all depends on healthy people, the result of our knowledge must be prevention. If we trust treatment without an investment in prevention, then we have failed.”

Kirk R. Smith (1947–2020) American climatologist

Source: https://clusterbcs.com/en/in-memoriam-kirk-r-smith-1947-2020-2/

Dependency , People , Knowledge

“Because we are socialists we have felt the deepest blessings of the nation, and because we are nationalists we want to promote socialist justice in a new Germany.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

Source: 1930s, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)

Justice

“In spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!”

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English librettist of the Gilbert & Sullivan duo

H.M.S. Pinafore (1878)
Source: 1878, HMS Pinafore, act 2, also quoted in Dictionary of Quotations, p. 354 (2005)

“What's the point of being the greatest, most powerful nation in the world and not having an imperial role?”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Quoted in The Reactionary Mind
2000s

World

“Are we in danger of becoming a nation of cry-babies? Are we becoming a people who panic at the least sign at adversity? Are we becoming a people with a faith not in God or in ourselves, but in a paternalistic government to shelter us from all of life's hardships and misfortunes?”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Source: Memorandum to Robert T. Hartmann https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0204/1511691.pdf (1976)

Baby , God , People , Cry

“[T]hough affluence is a good thing, and the spirit of compassionate reform is a good thing, in the end a nation survives only to the extent that the spirit of self-discipline and self-sacrifice is strong and vital.”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Source: Memorandum to Robert T. Hartmann https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0204/1511691.pdf (1976)

Strong

“The United States while they wish for war with no nation, will buy peace with none, it being a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, so war is better than tribute.”

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

A paraphrased variant of this seems to have arisen on the internet around 2007: It is ... a settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. The United States, while they wish for war with no nation, will buy peace with none.
1810s
Source: Message delivered to Dey Omar Agha, by Isaac Chauncey and William Shaler , summarizing the Treaty with Algiers (1815) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/bar1815t.asp, and U.S attitudes and actions in the Barbary Wars, in refusing to pay ransom or tribute to pirates of the Barbary States, as quoted in History and Present Condition of Tripoli: With Some Accounts of the Other Barbary States http://books.google.com/books?id=YMwRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46 (1835) by Robert Greenhow, p. 46

Peace , War

“I believe in Nigeria’s potential to truly be a great nation; the giant of Africa and indeed, a giant in the world.”

Yemi Adamolekun Executive Director of Enough is Enough

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/10/nigeria-61-eie-11-light-hope-power-and-voice-opinion/ Speaking about Nigeria (October 18 2021 )

World

“American dollars should be spent on Americans’ safety and security, and if the national security threat is having an armed gunman in our school rooms, then we need to put our children first and stop sending our dollars overseas.”

Christina Hagan (1988) Member of the Ohio House of Representatives

Source: NRA-Endorsed Christina Hagan: ‘Stop Sending Our Dollars Overseas,’ Pay Armed Veterans to Protect Schools https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/04/24/nra-endorsed-christina-hagan-stop-sending-our-dollars-overseas-pay-armed-veterans-to-protect-schools/ (24 April 2018)

School , Children

“We want to be a community that lives in dialogue and spreads peace throughout the nation. Certainly these episodes and the controversy surrounding the term 'Allah' can have a negative impact on Christian-Muslim dialogue. It will take time and patience to overcome this impasse.”

Murphy Pakiam (1938) Catholic archbishop

Source: “Christians are praying and not responding to the provocations,” Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur tells Fides, following attacks on churches http://www.fides.org/en/news/25759-ASIA_MALAYSIA_Christians_are_praying_and_not_responding_to_the_provocations_Archbishop_of_Kuala_Lumpur_tells_Fides_following_attacks_on_churches (9 January 2010)

Communication , Patience , Peace , Time

“[T]he League of Nations will be of no value unless it has behind it the sanction of strong nations, prepared at a moment's notice to stop aggression. Otherwise the League of Nations will be a scrap of paper.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Prime Minister
Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1919/jul/03/unprovoked-attack-upon-france#S5CV0117P0_19190703_HOC_333 in the House of Commons on the Treaty of Versailles (3 July 1919)

Strong

“If I am law abiding and honour all the laws of a country, I am integrated into society. If I am serving the nation with all my potential and capability, that is integration.”

Mirza Masroor Ahmad (1950) spiritual leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Others
Source: Loving country you live in part of Muslim faith, says Ahmadi leader, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/06/loving-country-you-live-in-part-of-muslim-faith-says-ahmadi-leader,

Law , Country

“I believe in that one god who is the lord of all nations, all races & all religions, and so it becomes impossible that I could ever develop any hatred in my heart for any nation, any race or any religion.”

Mirza Masroor Ahmad (1950) spiritual leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Addresses
Source: Historic Address in Southern California https://www.alislam.org/press-release/head-of-ahmadiyya-muslim-jamaat-delivers-historic-address-in-southern-california/, 11th May 2013

God , Religion , Heart

“All diplomatic cars have distinctive plates that indicate status and nationality, for the ease and convenience of terrorists and potential kidnappers.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Whispers Under Ground

Source: Whispers Under Ground (2012), Chapter 14, “Westbourne Park” (p. 148)

Cars

“When the school children of Australia are told more truths about their own country, and fewer lies about the virtues of Royalty, the day will be near when we can place our own national flag in one of the proudest places among the ensigns of the world.”

Henry Lawson (1867–1922) Australian writer and poet

Source: A Neglected History (1887)

School , Country , Children , Truth

“We have depended on donor countries for scientific development for so long. It's time we commit more resources in our national budget to advance science and technology.”

Bingu wa Mutharika (1934–2012) politician and economist (1934-2012)

Source: Bingu wa Mutharika (2007) cited in: " Malawi president makes post-summit pledges https://www.scidev.net/global/news/malawi-president-makes-postsummit-pledges/" in SciDev.Net, 1 February 2007.

Dependency , Science , Time , Country

“The Nation belongs to everyone, not one or two specific people. The problems exist because we don't talk to each other and resolve them together. The problems arise from 'bloodthirstiness.'”

Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–2016) King of Thailand

A television broadcast of King Bhumibol Adulyadej to Suchinda and Chamlong. (20 May 1992)
Source: [th:พระราชดำรัสพระราชทานแก่พลเอก สุจินดา คราประยูร และพลตรี จำลอง ศรีเมือง วันพุธที่ ๒๐ พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. ๒๕๓๕, A royal address given to General Suchinda Kraprayoon and Major General Chamlong Srimuang on Wednesday, 20 May 1992, th, http://kanchanapisek.or.th/speeches/1992/0520.th.html, 1999, 2013-12-07, Golden Jubilee Network]
Context: People can lose their minds when they resort to violence. Eventually, they don't know why they fight each other and what the problems they need to resolve are. They merely know that they must overcome each other and they must be the only winner. This no way leads to victory, but only danger. There will only be losers, only the losers. Those who confront each other will all be the losers. And the loser of the losers will be the Nation.... For what purpose are you telling yourself that you're the winner when you're standing upon the ruins and debris?

People , Problem

“I am convinced that Nigeria should remain as one nation after 100 years despite her challenges because our common values overwhelm our differences.”

Dora Akunyili (1954–2014) Pharmacist and Government Official

Source: https://amp/s/dailypost.ng/2014/06/10/full-text-professor-dora-akunyilis-last-public-speech/%3famp=1 Dora's thoughts on Nigeria

“Georgia's character - now and forever - celebrates tolerance, embraces diversity, relishes lively and open debate, and above all, respects liberty and human dignity. Georgia is a democracy, because above all - its national identity is rooted in the traditions of democracy.”

Mikheil Saakashvili (1967) Georgian-Ukrainian politician, President of Georgia and Governor of Odessa

Remarks to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2005)
Source: As quoted in "Remarks of the President of Georgia H.E. Mikheil Saakashvili to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe" https://reliefweb.int/report/georgia/remarks-president-georgia-he-mikheil-saakashvili-parliamentary-assembly-council (26 January 2005), ReliefWeb

Democracy

“Exactly one year ago martial law was introduced. The year that has passed was a great test. We have passed it. It has been passed by the party, by the people's authority and all the citizens. But there is the only winner: the Polish nation. This is the shortest-put truth about the past year.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Speech on 1982

People , Truth , Law , Past

“It cannot be said that we didn't show good will, moderation, patience, sometimes there probably was too much of it ... the initiative of the great national understanding was backed by millions of Poles.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

Understanding , Patience

“Running counter to the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation and Taiwan compatriots, Taiwan separatists’ attempts to seek ‘Taiwan independence’ are doomed to fail.”

Zhu Fenglian (1977)

Source: "Mainland Condemns ‘Taiwan Independence’ Separatist Schemes" in China Today http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/2018/zdtj/202006/t20200612_800209787.html (12 June 2020)

“No nation on earth can vie with the Hindus in respect of the antiquity oftheir civilization and the antiquity of their religion.”

Magnus Björnstjerna (1779–1847) Swedish count and general (1779-1847)

Source: quoted in Londhe, S. (2008). A tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and wisdom spanning continents and time about India and her culture https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Tribute_to_Hinduism.html?id=G3AMAQAAMAAJ
Context: ... "In a metaphysical point of view we fmd among the Hindus all the fundamental ideas of those vast systems which, regarded merely as the offspring offantasy, nevertheless inspire admiration on account of the boldness of flight and of the faculty of human mind to elevate itself to such remote ethereal regions. We find among them all the principles of Pantheism, Spinozism and Hegelianism, of God as being one with the universe; spiritual life of mankind; and of the return of the emanative sparks after death to their divine origin; of the uninterrupted alternation between life and death, which is nothing else but a transition between different modes of existence. All this we find among the philosophies of the Hindus exhibited as clearly as by our modem philosophers more than three thousand years since.

Religion

“The literature of India makes us acquainted with a great nation of past ages, which grasped every branch of knowledge, and which will always occupy a distinguished place in the history of the civilization of mankind.”

Magnus Björnstjerna (1779–1847) Swedish count and general (1779-1847)

Source: Count Magnus Fredrik Ferdinand Bjornstjerna in: The Theogony of the Hindoos with Their System of Philosophy and Cosmogony by Count M. Björnstjerna https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mHNK92IkdUkC&pg=PA85, Murray, 1844 , p. 85.

History , Literature , Age , Past

“I no longer make recommendations; they are forwarded to me and I have to make the final decisions without hesitation. I cannot afford to procrastinate because decisions made in central banking have to be definitive since they affect the entire nation—the rich, the not-so rich, and the poor.”

Linah Mohohlo (1952–2021) Botswana banker

Source: "In On the Ground Floor" (December 2004)

Decision

“Should it not, this essentially producing country, search all parts of the globe and seek to fight with other nations, by exploring in advance the countries likely to favor industries, by studying local needs and resources, by indicating the nature and time of the shipments to be made, etc.?”

Henri Alexis Brialmont (1821–1903) Belgian military engineer and writer (1821-1903)

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 5. A prospectus by the military Chazal and Brialmont, The military centipede Henri-Alexis Brialmont (1821-1893) http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#2.%20 Brialmont in 1853 On The need for a stronger merchant fleet, protected by a naval force, he was amazed that it still did not exist in Belgium, despite the unbridled economic boom that Belgium had entered in, and that had one of the largest ports in Europe. CROKAERT, P. BRIALMONT, A. Brialmont, Eloge et mémoires, 399.

Study , Search , Time , Country

“We should actively campaign for a public understanding of the benefits of the [UK] union, economic and strategic, for the people and its component nations,”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Source: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt pledge to safeguard union https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48817848 BBC News (30 June 2019)

Understanding , People

“[National-Socialism is] not only narrow and selfish but arrogant [with a] very weak scientific foundation for its racial philosophy.”

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) Indian nationalist leader and politician

Source: quoted in Leonard Gordon, Bengal The Nationalist Movement, p 260, and in Elst, K. (2010). The saffron swastika: The notion of "Hindu fascism". p 959

Selfishness

“I make a call, to all daughters and sons of our nation, to support the war effort, each according to their abilities.”

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (1957) President of Burkina Faso

Source: Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (2021) cited in " Burkina Faso president picks former nuclear watchdog head Zerbo as PM https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20211211-burkina-faso-president-picks-former-nuclear-watchdog-head-zerbo-as-pm" on France 24, 11 December 2021.

Support , War , Daughters , Effort

“Top-3 national priorities right now, where the entire country should be focused:
Vaccine.
Vaccine.
Vaccine.”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter https://twitter.com/chetan_bhagat/status/1383688549061468166

Country

“I have a fascination with getting my entire country vaccinated. For that we need all the vaccines we can get and we will need them all. Nothing to do with nation of origin.”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter https://twitter.com/chetan_bhagat/status/1417001960377503746

Country

“Libraries ... will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them, cannot be enslaved. It is in the regions of ignorance that tyranny reigns.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

Written by Henry Stuber as part of a biographical sketch of Franklin appended to a 1793 edition of Franklin's autobiography and sometimes reprinted with it in the 19th century. It is frequently misattributed to Franklin himself.
Misattributed

God , Men

“In view of Our special love for and inclination to the German Nation and the Holy Roman Empire…as Roman emperor and supreme steward of Christendom, it pertains to Our Imperial office to confess Our obligation to guard, protect, and maintain the holy Christian faith as it has been preserved until now.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

Diet of Augsburg (1530)
Source: Ruth Kastner, ed., Quellen zur Reformation 1517-1555. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1994, pp. 501-20.

Love , Faith

“You know that my ancestors were the most christian emperors of the great nation of Germany, the catholic kings of Spain, the archdukes of Austria, and the dukes of Burgundy, who all were, until death, faithful sons of the Roman Church...I am therefore resolved to maintain everything which these my forebears have established to the present…and to settle this matter I will use all my dominions and possessions, my friends, my body, my blood, my life, and my soul. It would be a disgrace for you and me, the illustrious and renowned nation of Germany, privileged and pre-eminent as protector and defender of the Catholic faith, if heresy, or even just the suspicion of heresy, and the degradation of the Christian religion were to return to the hearts of men in our time to our perpetual dishonour.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

Diet of Worms (1521)
Source: *Detlef Ploese and Guenther Vogler, eds., Buch der Reformation. Eine Auswahl zeitgenössischer Zeugnisse (1476-1555). Berlin: Union Verlag, 1989, pp. 245-53

Soul , Life , Death , Men

“Few desire to know the truth of what is happening in our state’s abortion clinics. All of the outrage, all of the noise is directed at one thing: silencing the uncomfortable truth. It’s either willful ignorance or a decision to partner with the abortion industry. When I started in public office, I was intellectually pro-life, but now I have come to see that the life issue is truly the issue of our time. The depth of evil that exists to protect this lie prevents the states from protecting children. How we determine the answer to this issue is what will determine where our nation will end up. Unless the truth prevails, abortion will destroy us as a nation.”

Phill Kline (1959) American politician

Source: Ask the Attorney: An Interview with Former Kansas Attorney General and Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline http://lifelegalgiving.com/ask-the-attorney-an-interview-with-former-kansas-attorney-general-and-johnson-county-district-attorney-phill-kline/ (1 August 2009)

Decision , Life , Silence , Children

“Politicians in the city are terrified of political and media backlash for holding antifa and far-left protesters accountable. The local and national media are staunchly on the side of antifa, regardless of their violence against police and property.”

Andy Ngo (1986) American conservative journalist and social‐media personality

Source: Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy (2021), pp. 60-61

“Our prospects are obscured for a moment, but, I trust, only for a moment; it is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.”

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions

Source: Letter to Thomas Attwood, October 1831, after the rejection in the House of Lords of the Reform Bill, 7 October 1831

“We must establish on broad and solid foundations a National Health Service. Here let me say that there is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies. Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Broadcast (21 March 1943), quoted in The Times (22 March 1943), p. 6
The Second World War (1939–1945)

Baby , Communication , Health , Country

“Religious education is demanded by the nation generally and by the instincts of human nature.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Speech to the Conservatives of Manchester (3 April 1872), quoted in Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield, Volume II, ed. T. E. Kebbel (1882), p. 505

Nature , Education

“We are partners in this country, and partners in the development process of the state. Christmas is observed as a national holiday.”

Bisher Al-Khasawneh (1969) Prime Minister of Jordan

Source: Bisher Al-Khasawneh (2021) cited in: " PM greets Christians on Christmas https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/pm-greets-christians-christmas" in The Jordan Times, 26 December 2021.

Country , Holiday , Christmas

“Imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to seize the land or at least to control the government or resources of another people. It is an assertion of stark, bold aggression.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 213

People

“Probably one of the most completely misunderstood of all modern institutions is militarism. While military organizations take their origin in man's lust for war, militarism is something more than a mere war machine. By militarism I mean that institution in which the nation maintains large national armies and navies in time of peace, usually raised on the principle of conscription.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 98-99

War , Peace , Time

“Therefore now in the national interest we have got to come together and secure a compromise. If we can't do that, well yes, we have to go back to the people.”

John McDonnell (1951) British politician (born 1951)

Source: Brexit: Labour plan can get majority, says John McDonnell https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47170369 BBC News (8 February 2019)

People

“The people of Myanmar will go down in history for being a part of the formation of a new nation.”

Mahn Win Khaing Than (1952) politician

Source: Mahn Win Khaing Than (2022) cited in: " ‘I’ve never seen such solidarity… we expect the revolution to succeed this year’ – NUG Prime Minister https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/ive-never-seen-such-solidarity-we-expect-the-revolution-to-succeed-this-year-nug-prime-minister" in Myanmar Now, 22 January 2022.

History , People , Parting

“I am opposed to it because I wish to see united at an important crisis of the world—a crisis that perhaps is nearer arriving than some of us suppose—because I wish to see a united people welded in one great nationality, and because I feel that if we sanction this policy—if we do not cleanse the Parliamentary bosom of all this "perilous stuff"—we shall bring about the disintegration of the Kingdom and the destruction of the Empire.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1874/jul/02/motion-for-a-committee-adjourned-debate#column_963 in the House of Commons against Irish Home Rule (2 July 1874)

People , World , Feeling