Quotes about patriot page 2
“Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.”
Gore Vidal book Julian
Source: 1960s, Julian (1964), Chapter 13, Helena
George S. McGovern (1922–2012) American politician, Congressman, senator, Democratic presidential candidate
“What a strange development of patriotism that turns a thinking being into a loyal machine!”
Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
April 7, 1775, p. 253
Boswell's full mention of this statement reads:
:Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941) American writer and journalist
"Family Values," The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (1991)
“What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese writer
Variant: What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?
“You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.”
George Bernard Shaw Heartbreak House
O'Flaherty V.C. (1919)
1910s
Source: Heartbreak House
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)
“The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates.”
Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Love in the Afternoon
“For a writer, only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language.”
Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) Russian and American poet and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
“To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism.”
G. Edward Griffin (1931) American conspiracy theorist, film producer, author, and political lecturer
“The true American patriot is by definition skeptical of the government.”
Sarah Vowell book The Partly Cloudy Patriot
Source: The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2003)
Shane Claiborne The Irresistible Revolution
Source: The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher
Letter to James Warren (24 October 1780) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2094
“Victoria Westover and Shari Monetta are true patriots”
James Carville (1944) political writer, consultant and United States Marine
“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.”
Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer
"My Uncle Sosthenes"
Source: The Complete Short Stories Vol. 2 of 3
Patrick O'Brian book Master and Commander
Source: Master and Commander (1970)
Context: “But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile.”
Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)
Letter to John Adams (17 June 1782)
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)
1920s, Address at the Black Hills (1927)
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
"Hitler and His Choice", The Strand Magazine (November 1935), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 681
The 1930s
Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War
Letter to Governor Letcher
Variant: The interests of the State are therefore the same as those of the United States. Its prosperity will rise or fall with the welfare of the country. The duty of its citizens, then, appears to me too plain to admit of doubt. All should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the country; promote harmony and good feeling; qualify themselves to vote; and elect to the State and general Legislatures wise and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the interests of the country, and the healing of all dissensions. I have invariably recommended this course since the cessation of hostilities, and have endeavored to practice it myself.
Fanny J. Crosby (1820–1915) American poet, lyricist and composer
Dixie For The Union http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/dixie/lyrics.html#union. <br class="br">1860s
Neil Fligstein (1951) American sociologist
Source: The transformation of corporate control, 1993, p. 112
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician
Speech in the House of Commons (26 February 1810), quoted in George Henry Francis, Opinions and Policy of the Right Honourable Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B., M.P., &c. as Minister, Diplomatist, and Statesman, During More Than Forty Years of Public Life (London: Colburn and Co., 1852), pp. 3-4.
1810s
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
Speech, "Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country" http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=535, Syracuse, New York (September 24, 1847) <br class="br">1840s, Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country (1847)
Alauddin Husain Shah Sultan of Bengal
Harsh Narain, Myths of Composite Culture and Equality of Religions (1990)
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
Washington Times, 12 January 2005 http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050111-101004-3771r <br class="br">2000s, 2005
Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012) Cambodian King
Said during his exile in Peking, as quoted by Oriana Fallaci (June 1973), Intervista con la Storia (sixth edition, 2011). pages 112-113.
Interviews
Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)
Post-Presidency, DNC address (2004)
“True patriots all; for be it understood
We left our country for our country’s good.”
Prologue written for the Opening of the Play-house at New South Wales, Jan. 16, 1796. Compare: "'T was for the good of my country that I should be abroad", George Farquhar, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Act iii, scene 2.
Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist
War: Realities and Myths http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hedges.php?articleid=6294
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Baldwin's response to the Munich crisis, as quoted in The Times (10 September 1938)
1938
John Ruskin book The Seven Lamps of Architecture
Source: The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), Chapter II: The Lamp of Truth, section 1.
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
He knew the American people better than they knew themselves, and his truth was based upon this knowledge.
1870s, Oratory in Memory of Abraham Lincoln (1876)
“Sadly, there is a fine line between patriotism and paranoia.”
M. K. Hobson (1969) American writer
Prologue (p. 3)
The Hidden Goddess (2011)
Dennis Miller (1953) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actor
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (3 April 2003)
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The John Clifford Lecture at Coventry (14 July 1930), published in This Torch of Freedom (1935), pp. 35-36.
1930
Fisher Ames (1758–1808) American politician
Letter to George Richard Minot (May 27, 1789); reported in Works of Fisher Ames (1854), ed. Seth Ames, vol. 1, p. 45.
Jean-Paul Marat (1743–1793) politician and journalist during the French Revolution
L'Ami du peuple, vol. 7, p. 3965
Geoffrey Blainey (1930) Australian historian
"Balance Sheet On Our History," Quadrant (July 1993)
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
1870s, Speech (1879)
Carl Schurz (1829–1906) Union Army general, politician
Speech expanding upon his famous statement in the Senate many years before, at the Anti-Imperialistic Conference, Chicago, Illinois (17 October 1899)
L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer
Source: Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer, (1985), pp. 139-140. (Chapter 17: “Who’s Afraid of No Government?”)
Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler
Source: Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! (2008), Ch. 10 (p. 180)
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) American-born, British-based artist
Propositions, 2
also in a letter to 'The World', London 22 Mai, 1878; as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock, Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 186
1870 - 1903, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies' (1890)
“Diplomacy, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.”
Ambrose Bierce book The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
“They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, Infidels (1983), Sweetheart Like You
Michael Badnarik (1954) American software engineer
Source: Debate at Cornell University http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20041007/localnews/1368940.html, October 6, 2004
Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) British statesman; prime minister of the United Kingdom
Letter to the Mayor of Leicester, declining to speak at a recruitment meeting (September 1914), quoted in David Marquand, Ramsay MacDonald (Metro, 1997), p. 175
1910s
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician
Speech at Hoover Institution Lunch (8 March 1991) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108264 <br class="br">This quote appears to be the basis for the following condensed version, seen on numerous internet sites : Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy. <br class="br">Post-Prime Ministerial
Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) The second Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a leader of the Indian National Congress party
William Luther Pierce (1933–2002) American white nationalist
Why War? (November 21, 1998) http://web.archive.org/web/20070324011124/http://www.natvan.com/pub/1998/112198.txt, American Dissident Voices Broadcast of November 21, 1998 http://archive.org/details/DrWilliamPierceAudioArchive308RadioBroadcasts. <br class="br">1990s, 1990
Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) American politician, 19th President of the United States (in office from 1877 to 1881)
Letter to Oliver Downing (15 March 1889)
Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1922 - 1926)
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
1880s, Speech to the 'Boys in Blue' (1880)
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Man begreift schwer beim Erleben dieser "großen Zeit", daß man dieser verrückten, verkommenen Spezies angehört, die sich Willensfreiheit zuschreibt. Wenn es doch irgendwo eine Insel der Wohlwollenden und Besonnenen gäbe! Da wollte ich auch glühender Patriot sein.
Letter to Paul Ehrenfest, early December 1914. Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8, Doc. 39. Quoted in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 3
1910s
Charles Stross book Halting State
Source: Halting State (2007), Chapter 33, “Elaine: Gentlemen and Players” (p. 274)
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807–1890) Californian military commander, politician, and rancher
As quoted by George Mason University's History Matters: “More Like A Pig Than a Bear”: Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Is Taken Prisoner During the Bear Flag Revolt, 1846
Historical and Personal Memoirs Relating to Alta California (1875)
“You can’t be patriotic on a salary that just keeps the wolf from the door. p. 56”
George Washington Plunkitt (1842–1924) New York State Senator
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, Chapter 13, On Municipal Ownership
Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st President of the United States of America
Comment about the League of Nations in 1922 Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy: Department of Commerce Policy, 1921-1928 https://books.google.com/books?id=rinywBbGac4C&pg=PA27
Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American labor and political leader
The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012) Cambodian King
As quoted by David Ablin and Marlowe Hood (March 14, 1985), "The Lesser Evil: An Interview with Norodom Sihanouk" http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1985/mar/14/the-lesser-evil-an-interview-with-norodom-sihanouk/?pagination=false, The New York Review of Books. <br class="br">Interviews
“So to be patriots as not to forget we are gentlemen.”
Edmund Burke book Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)
Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) British-American economist
Source: 1950s, National images and international systems, 1959, p. 131
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
[1914-01-22, Anatole France on Education. Speech at the Inauguration of the Education Part of the Socialist "Maison de Peuple," at Brussels, Translated for "The New Age" by Leonard J. Simons, The New Age (Volume 14, Number 12), 363, http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=1165338028234375&view=mjp_object, Modernist Journals Project, 2017-01-04]
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
1880s, Inaugural address (1881)
“While my opponent slanders you as deplorable… I call you hard-working, American patriots.”
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Ashville, North Carolina https://www.c-span.org/video/?415085-1/donald-trump-campaigns-ashville-north-carolina, C-SPAN.org (12 September 2016). <br class="br">2010s, 2016, September
Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) U.S. Army general of the army, field marshal of the Army of the Philippines
Address to the Annual Stockholders Sperry Rand Corporation (30 July 1957), as published in General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964 (2000) by Edward T. Imparato, p. 206
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
As translated in Hitler's Secret Book (1961) Grove Press edition, pp. 8-9, 17-18
1920s, Zweites Buch (1928)
Horace Walpole (1717–1797) English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician
Notes of 1758, published in Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second (1822), p. 226; also published as "Memoirs of the Year 1758" in Memoirs of King George II, Vol. III (1985), p. 10
Gancho Tsenov (1870–1949) Bulgarian historian
Source: Ziezi ex quo Vulgares, "Забравеният д-р Ганчо Ценов" http://ziezi.net/cenov.html
Roy R. Grinker, Sr. (1900–1993) American psychiatrist and neurologist
Source: Men Under Stress, 1945, p. 40 cited in: The Clare Spark Blog (2009) Strategic Regression in “the greatest generation” http://clarespark.com/2009/12/09/strategic-regression-in-the-greatest-generation/ December 9, 2009
El Lissitsky (1890–1941) Soviet artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer and architect
1915 - 1925, Suprematism' in World Reconstruction (1920)
Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer
Vol. 3, pg 163, Translated by W.P. Dickson.
The History of Rome - Volume 3
Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946) British Liberal and later Labour politician and pacifist
Falsehood in Wartime (1928), Introduction
Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
What is Patriotism? (1908)