Quotes about nationality
page 28

Andrew Vachss photo
Roger Wolcott Sperry photo
Francis Escudero photo

“• Increase of P15 million for the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos for the Hajj Travel Assistance and Endowment Administration Services;”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

2014, Speech: Sponsorship Speech for the FY 2015 National Budget

K. R. Narayanan photo
George Will photo

“There is an elegant memorial in Washington to Jefferson, but none to Hamilton. However, if you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.”

George Will (1941) American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author

Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy, Simon & Schuster (c. 1992), Chapter 2, p. 167 : ISBN 0029347130
1990s

Ayn Rand photo
William Ewart Gladstone photo
George W. Bush photo

“You helped our nation celebrate its Bicentennial in 17- [hastily corrects himself] in 1976. [Queen gives him a sharp look and mutters inaudibly] She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Speech to Queen Elizabeth II http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/05/07/bush-to-queen-you-helpe_n_47847.html during her visit to the White House. (May 7, 2007)
2000s, 2007

Tony Benn photo
Konrad Heiden photo
Frederick Douglass photo
Mike Malloy photo
John Lehman photo
Shankar Dayal Sharma photo
Harold Wilson photo
Max Müller photo

“As for more than twenty years my principal work has been devoted to the ancient literature of India, I cannot but feel a deep and real sympathy for all that concerns the higher interests of the people of that country. Though I have never been in India, I have many friends there, both among the civilians and among the natives, and I believe I am not mistaken in supposing that the publication in England of the ancient sacred writings of the Brahmans, which had never been published in India, and other contributions from different European scholars towards a better knowledge of the ancient literature and religion of India, have not been without some effect on the intellectual and religious movement that is going on among the more thoughtful members of Indian society. I have sometimes regretted that I am not an Englishman, and able to help more actively in the great work of educating and improving the natives. But I do rejoice that this great task of governing and benefiting India should have fallen to one who knows the greatness of that task and all its opportunities and responsibilities, who thinks not only of its political and financial bearings, but has a heart to feel for the moral welfare of those millions of human beings that are, more or less directly, committed to his charge. India has been conquered once, but India must be conquered again, and that second conquest should be a conquest by education. Much has been done for education of late, but if the funds were tripled and quadrupled, that would hardly be enough. The results of the educational work carried on during the last twenty years are palpable everywhere. They are good and bad, as was to be expected. It is easy to find fault with what is called Young Bengal, the product of English ideas grafted on the native mind. But Young Bengal, with all its faults, is full of promise. Its bad features are apparent everywhere, its good qualities are naturally hidden from the eyes of careless observers.... India can never be anglicized, but it can be reinvigorated. By encouraging a study of their own ancient literature, as part of their education, a national feeling of pride and self-respect will be reawakened among those who influence the large masses of the people. A new national literature may spring up, impregnated with Western ideas, yet retaining its native spirit and character. The two things hang together. In order to raise the character of the vernaculars, a study of the ancient classical language is absolutely necessary: for from it these modern dialects have branched off, and from it alone can they draw their vital strength and beauty. A new national literature will bring with it a new national life and new moral vigour. As to religion, that will take care of itself. The missionaries have done far more than they themselves seem to be aware of, nay, much of the work which is theirs they would probably disclaim. The Christianity of our nineteenth century will hardly be the Christianity of India. But the ancient religion of India is doomed — and if Christianity does not step in, whose fault will it be?”

Max Müller (1823–1900) German-born philologist and orientalist

Letter to the Duke of Argyll, published in The Life and Letters of Right Honorable Friedrich Max Müller (1902) edited by Georgina Müller

John F. Kennedy photo
Moby photo

“It will be interesting to see what the long term fruits of our national apathy will be, 'cos so far they've been pretty foul.”

Moby (1965) Activist, American musician, DJ and photographer

"?", journal entry (20 January 2003) at moby.com http://www.moby.com/journal/2003-01-20/.html

Naomi Wolf photo
William S. Burroughs photo
Abbie Hoffman photo
Enoch Powell photo

“The reality of the situation is obscured when population is expressed as a percentage proportion taken over the whole of the United Kingdom. The ethnic minority is geographically concentrated, so that areas in which it forms a majority already exists, and these areas are destined inevitably to grow. It is here that the compatibility of such an ethnic minority with the functioning of parliamentary democracy comes into question. Parliamentary democracy depends at all levels upon the valid acceptance of majority decision, by which the nation as a whole is content to be bound because of the continually available prospect that what one majority has decided another majority can subsequently alter. From this point of view, the political homogeneity of the electorate is crucial. What we do not, as yet, know is whether the voting behaviour of our altered population will be able to use the majority vote as a political instrument and not as a means of self-identification, self-assertion and self-enumeration. It may be that the United Kingdom will escape the political consequences of communalism; but communalism and democracy, as the experience of India demonstrates, are incompatible. That is the spectre which the Conservative party's policy of assisted repatriation in the 1960s aimed to banish; but time and events have swept over and passed the already outdated remedies of the 1960s. We are entering unknown territory where the only certainty for the future is the relative increase of the ethnic minority due to the age structure of that population which has been established.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Article on the 25th anniversary of his 'Rivers of Blood speech', The Times (20 April 1993), p. 18
1990s

John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell photo
Amir Taheri photo
John Esposito photo
Michael Franti photo
Zail Singh photo
David Duke photo

“As for America and the rest of European world, I want to live in a nation that reflects my traditions and values, and I do not want my people to become a minority in the nations my own forefathers built. Interestingly, that is same goal that most Israelis and most Jews who support Israel endorse for the Jewish state.”

David Duke (1950) American White nationalist, white supremacist, writer, right-wing politician, and a former Republican Louisiana …

Open letter http://www.davidduke.com/general/david-duke-answers-a-jewish-reader_214.html (20 January 2005)

James A. Garfield photo
A. James Gregor photo
Brian Mulroney photo

“Fifty years from today, Americans will revere the name, 'Obama.' Because like his Canadian predecessors, he chose the tough responsibilities of national leadership over the meaningless nostrums of sterile partisanship that we see too much of in Canada and around the world.”

Brian Mulroney (1939) 18th Prime Minister of Canada

September 17,2009, http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090917/Brian_Mulroney_090917/20090917?hub=TopStories|year=2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpUpmlgYjSw

John F. Kennedy photo
Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman photo
John Bright photo
Arthur Ponsonby photo

“The object of this volume is not to cast fresh blame on authorities and individuals, nor is it to expose one nation more than another to accusations of deceit.”

Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946) British Liberal and later Labour politician and pacifist

First lines of the introduction.
Falsehood in Wartime (1928), Introduction

Alfred Rosenberg photo
Stanley Baldwin photo
Dick Morris photo

“It should come as no surprise that President Obama will raise taxes if he is reelected. But here's the shocker: he will invite the United Nations to tax Americans directly. And the proceeds would go directly to the Third World.”

Dick Morris (1947) American political commentator and consultant

2012-10-08
Obama’s second-term plan: Let the UN tax Americans
The Hill
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/260769-obamas-second-term-plan-let-the-un-tax-americans

Samuel Johnson photo

“Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving.”

"The Bravery of the English Common Soldiers" http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5L9GAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA306&dq=%22Liberty+is%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=QMMqU_f7MMPMhAeAwoC4DA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Liberty%20is%22&f=false. Note: This essay was "added to some editions of The Idler, when collected into volumes, but not by Dr. Johnson" — vide The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 2 (London, 1806), footnote http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uYPfXTOfTTsC&pg=PA427&dq=%22This+short+paper%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=DcgqU_PlN_Ha0QXQyoDoAw&ved=0CGIQ6AEwBjgU#v=onepage&q=%22This%20short%20paper%22&f=false on p. 427

Frances Kellor photo
David Ben-Gurion photo

“We consider that the United Nations' ideal is a Jewish ideal.”

David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) Israeli politician, Zionist leader, prime minister of Israel

As quoted in "The Watchman" in TIME magazine (16 August 1948) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798932-2,00.html

Mao Zedong photo

“The unification of our country, the unity of our people and the unity of our various nationalities - these are the basic guarantees of the sure triumph of our cause.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People

Chester W. Wright photo
Michael Johns photo
Mahathir bin Mohamad photo

“What concerns me right now is that with the actions of Dr Mahathir, who is a lauded statesman and a beloved international icon, the country could become unstable, driving away foreign investors from this nation at the same time. As a former Prime Minister, he should be more understanding of what democracy is, which cannot be achieved the way Dr Mahathir is going about it now.”

Mahathir bin Mohamad (1925) Prime Minister of Malaysia

Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Anifah Aman said in a statement on Saturday (Mar 5) that he was both surprised and disappointed with Dr Mahathir, quoted on Channel News Asia, "Dr Mahathir movement will be bad for country: Malaysia Foreign Affairs Minister" http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/dr-mahathir-movement-will/2575782.html, March 5, 2016.

David Lloyd George photo

“The League of Nations is the greatest humbug in history. They cannot even protect a little nation like Armenia. They do nothing but pass useless resolutions.”

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

Prime Minister
Source: Quoted in Lord Riddell's diary entry (18 December 1920), J. M. McEwen (ed.), The Riddell Diaries 1908-1923 (London: The Athlone Press, 1986), p. 330

Harold Wilson photo
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo

“…he thinks that peace is, of all things, the best, and that war is, of all things, the worst. Now, Sir, I happen to be of opinion that there are things for which peace may be advantageously sacrificed, and that there are calamities which a nation may endure which are far worse than war. This has been the opinion of men in all ages whose conduct has been admired by their contemporaries, and has obtained for them the approbation of posterity. The hon. Member, however, reduces everything to the question of pounds, shillings, and pence, and I verily believe that if this country were threatened with an immediate invasion likely to end in its conquest, the hon. Member would sit down, take a piece of paper, and would put on one side of the account the contributions which his Government would require from him for the defence of the liberty and independence of the country, and he would put on the other the probable contributions which the general of the invading army might levy upon Manchester, and if he found that, on balancing the account, it would be cheaper to be conquered than to be laid under contribution for defence, he would give his vote against going to war for the liberties and independence of the country, rather than bear his share in the expenditure which it would entail.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1854/mar/31/war-with-russia-the-queens-message in the House of Commons on the debate on war with Russia (31 March 1854).
1850s

Calvin Coolidge photo

“The Constitution is the sole source and guaranty of national freedom.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

Address accepting nomination as Republican candidate for president, Washington, D.C. (4 August 1924); published as Address of Acceptance (1924), p. 15.
1920s

Carl Sagan photo
Charles Sumner photo

“The same national authority that destroyed slavery must see that this other pretension is not permitted to survive.”

Charles Sumner (1811–1874) American abolitionist and politician

As quoted in "The Ideology of the Republican Party" https://books.google.com/books?id=5Cl2cVkEV9wC&pg=PA65&dq=%22the+party+of+emancipation%22+GOP&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW0tfNv5_LAhUJ8CYKHUxcBv4Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=man's%20government&f=false, by Eric Foner, The Birth of the Grand Old Party: The Republicans' First Generation (2002), edited by Robert F. Engs and Randall M. Miller, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 18

Winston S. Churchill photo

“India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the equator.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech at Royal Albert Hall, London (18 March 1931).
The 1930s

William Ralph Inge photo

“A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours.”

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) Dean of St Pauls

The End of an Age: and other essays (1948), p. 127

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi photo
Menachem Begin photo

“Palestinians! This is an unacceptable reference. Jews are also Palestinians. He must mean 'Palestinian Arabs'.
Conquered territory! Gaza was also conquered by Egypt
Sinai settlements! There is a national consensus in Israel that the settlements must stay!”

Menachem Begin (1913–1992) Israeli politician and Prime Minister

"Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President" page 355 https://books.google.ca/books?id=c-hncyLhPjoC&pg=PA355 by Jimmy Carter

John Denham photo
Aron Ra photo

“We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.”

Charlton Ogburn (1911–1998) American journalist and author

From "Merrill's Marauders: The truth about an incredible adventure" http://www.harpers.org/archive/1957/01/0007289 in the January 1957 issue of Harper's Magazine
Usually misattributed to Petronius
See Brown, David S. "Petronius or Ogburn?", <i>Public Administration Review</i>, Vol. 38, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1978), p. 296 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-3352(197805%2F06)38%3A3%3C296%3APOO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z
<p>alternate version:</p><p>As a result, I suppose, of high-level changes of mind about how we were to be used, we went though several reorganizations. Perhaps because Americans as a nation have a gift for organizing, we tend to meet any new situation by reorganization, and a wonderful method it is for creating the illusion of progress at the mere cost of confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.</p>
The Maurauders (1959)
chapter 2, page 60

George W. Bush photo

“Any suggestion that a segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals, and the founding ideals of our nation, and in fact the founding ideals of the political party I represent, was and remains today the equal dignity and equal rights of every American.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Regarding comments made by Trent Lott (12 December 2002), as quoted in "Lott's Remarks on Segregation 'Wrong and Offensive'" https://web.archive.org/web/20150921020713/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/lott-remarks-on-segregation-wrong-and-offensive-1.1107399 (13 December 2002), The Irish Times
2000s, 2002

Winston S. Churchill photo

“Everyone can see how communism rots the soul of a nation. How it makes it abject in peace and proves it abominable in war.”

Part of a speech played on the documentary Timewatch - Russia: A Century of Suspicion.
The Second World War (1939–1945)

John Bright photo
Norman Borlaug photo
George W. Bush photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Charles Sumner photo

“With me, sir, there is no alternative. Painfully convinced of the unutterable wrongs and woes of slavery; profoundly believing that, according to the true spirit of the Constitution and the sentiments of the fathers, it can find no place under our National Government — that it is in every respect sectional, and in no respect national — that it is always and everywhere the creature and dependent of the States, and never anywhere the creature or dependent of the Nation, and that the Nation can never, by legislative or other act, impart to it any support, under the Constitution of the United States; with these convictions, I could not allow this session to reach its close, without making or seizing an- opportunity to declare myself openly against the usurpation, injustice, and cruelty, of the late enactment by Congress for the recovery of fugitive slaves. Full well I know, sir, the difficulties of this discussion, arising from prejudices of opinion and from adverse conclusions, strong and sincere as my own. Full well I know that I am in a small minority, with few here to whom I may look for sympathy or support. Full well I know that I must utter things unwelcome to many in this body, which I cannot do without pain. Full well I know that the institution of slavery in our country, which I now proceed to consider, is as sensitive as it is powerful — possessing a power to shake the whole land with a sensitiveness that shrinks and trembles at the touch. But, while these things may properly prompt me to caution and reserve, they cannot change my duty, or my determination to perform it. For this I willingly forget myself, and all personal consequences. The favor and good-will of my fellow-citizens, of my brethren of the Senate, sir, — grateful to me as it justly is — I am ready, if required, to sacrifice. All that I am or may be, I freely offer to this cause.”

Charles Sumner (1811–1874) American abolitionist and politician

"Freedom National, Slavery Sectional," speech in the Senate (July 27, 1852).

Bud Selig photo
John F. Kennedy photo

“It was early in the Seventeenth Century that Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. Now the links between the nations first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world's efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure.
And so it is to the printing press — to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news — that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Kennedy here references Francis Bacon’s Aphorism 129 of Novum Organum: Again, we should notice the force, effect, and consequences of inventions, which are nowhere more conspicuous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients; namely, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance and state of the whole world; first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in navigation: and innumerable changes have been thence derived, so that no empire, sect, or star, appears to have exercised a greater power and influence on human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
1961, Address to ANPA

Mahesh Sharma photo

“We discussed education and culture and how we can inculcate values. The other issue was pollution of ideology, national ideology…Some people alleged that we are doing saffronisation. If at all saffronisation has been done, it has been done by the public of India. We accept the mandate of the people.”

Mahesh Sharma (1959) Indian politician

On saffronisation, as quoted in " 'Saffronisation' Done by Public When They Gave Mandate to BJP: Mahesh Sharma http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/saffronisation-done-by-public-when-they-gave-mandate-to-bjp-mahesh-sharma/912013" Outlook (7 September 2015)

Margaret Chase Smith photo
Newt Gingrich photo

“I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. I think we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors.”

Newt Gingrich (1943) Professor, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

2011-05-15 interview on * Meet the Press
2011-05-15
NBC, quoted in * Gingrich Calls GOP Budget 'Right Wing Social Engineering'
PBS
2011-05-16
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/gingrich-keeps-ryan-budget-at-arms-length.html
2011-05-28
2010s

“How can we win the other half of our nation to Christ, when we do not show them the practical love of Jesus Christ in our daily interaction with Him? How can we help, as leaders, to convert them to Christianity when we practise division and separateness?”

James Ah Koy (1936) Fijian politician

Maiden speech in the Senate http://www.parliament.gov.fj/hansard/viewhansard.aspx?hansardID=165&viewtype=full, 8 December 2003 (excerpts), Speech in the Senate http://www.parliament.gov.fj/hansard/viewhansard.aspx?hansardID=245&viewtype=full, 26 August 2004 (excerpts)

Alfred Jodl photo

“It is tragic that the Fuehrer should have the whole nation behind him with the single exception of the Army generals. In my opinion it is only by action that they can now atone for their faults of lack of character and discipline.”

Alfred Jodl (1890–1946) German general

August 10, 1938. Quoted in "The Trial of the Germans" - Page 347 - by Eugene Davidson - History - 1997.

Warren Farrell photo
Jane Roberts photo
Nouriel Roubini photo
Antonio Negri photo
Gwynfor Evans photo
Calvin Coolidge photo

“Ever since the last great conflict the world has been putting a renewed emphasis, not on preparation to succeed in war, but on an attempt by preventing war to succeed in peace. This movement has the full and complete approbation of the American Government and the American people. While we have been unwilling to interfere in the political relationship of other countries and have consistently refrained from intervening except when our help has been sought and we have felt that it could be effectively given, we have signified our willingness to become associated with other nations in a practical plan for promoting international justice through the World Court. Such a tribunal furnishes a method of the adjustment of international differences in accordance with our treaty rights and under the generally accepted rules of international law. When questions arise which all parties agree ought to be adjudicated but which do not yield to the ordinary methods of diplomacy, here is a forum to which the parties may voluntarily repair in the consciousness that their dignity suffers no diminution and that their cause will be determined impartially, according to the law and the evidence. That is a sensible, direct, efficient, and practical method of adjusting differences which can not fail to appeal to the intelligence of the American people.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

1920s, Ways to Peace (1926)

David Lloyd George photo
Hans Morgenthau photo
John Derbyshire photo
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi photo
Deendayal Upadhyaya photo

“The Christian community has a golden opportunity to train an army of dedicated teachers who can invade the public school classrooms and use them to influence the nation for Christ.”

James Kennedy (televangelist) (1930–2007) American evangelist

"Education: Public Problems and Private Solutions," Coral Ridge Ministries, 1993. http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/sch6.htm

Gregor Strasser photo
Charles Krauthammer photo
James II of England photo
Jack Thompson (attorney) photo

“You just watch. There is going to be a Columbine-times-10 incident, and everyone will finally get it. Either that, or some video gamer is going to go Columbine at some video game exec's expense or at E3, and then the industry will begin to realize that there is no place to hide, that it has trained a nation of Manchurian Children.”

Jack Thompson (attorney) (1951) American activist and disbarred attorney

[2005-02-25, GameSpeak: Jack Thompson, William Vitka, CBS News, https://web.archive.org/web/20050301103652/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/24/tech/gamecore/main676446.shtml, 2005-02-24, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/24/tech/gamecore/man676446.shtml]

Neville Chamberlain photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Kurt Schuschnigg photo