- "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
~ Theodore Roosevelt - "What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
~ Adlai Stevenson - "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
~ Albert Einstein - "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."
~ Benjamin Franklin - "Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt."
~ Bergen Evans - "Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."
~ Calvin Coolidge - "True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."
~ Clarence Darrow - "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.
~ Edward R. Murrow - "The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain."
~ George McGovern - "A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."
~ George William Curtis - "A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth."
~ Henry Ward Beecher - "Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be."
~ James Baldwin - "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
~ John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address 20 January 1961 - "How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country!"
~ Joseph Addison - "Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Action, self-reliance, the vision of self and the future have been the only means by which the oppressed have seen and realized the light of their own freedom."
~ Marcus Garvey - "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
~ Nathan Hale - "It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
~ Patrick Henry March 23, 1775 - "When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."
~ Sir Winston Churchill
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