Patriotism Quotations

Guest Author - Danielle Hollister

"The Declaration of Independence - of the 13 United States of America We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
-- Declaration of Independence
"The Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
-- The Pledge of Allegiance
"This is essentially a people's contest... whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men - to lift artificial weights from all shoulders - to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all - to afford all, an unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life."
-- Abraham Lincoln Message to congress, July 4, 1861
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 1858
"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
American Pride
"So long as there are men there will be wars."
-- Albert Einstein
"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
"One of the great attractions of patriotism -- it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous."
-- Aldous Leonard Huxley
"Till the war-drum throbb`d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl`d; In the parliament of man; the Federation of the world."
-- Alfred Tennyson
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
-- Benjamin Franklin
"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
U.S. Flag, Ribbon
"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons."
-- Bertrand Russell
"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
"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!"
-- Daniel Webster July 1850 speech
"I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
-- Edith Cavell
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
-- Edward R. Murrow
"Love of country is like love of woman -- he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good."
-- Felix Adler
"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt
American Flag Flying At Full Mast, Ca...
""My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober.""
-- G. K. Chesterton
"In war there is no prize for the runner-up."
-- General Omar Bradley
"War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men."
-- Georges Clemenceau
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race."
-- George Bernard Shaw
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles."
-- George Jean Nathan
"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
Vietnam Reflections
"Don't be a fool and die for your country. Let the other sonofabitch die for his."
-- George S. Patton
"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor bastard die for his country."
-- George S. Patton
"A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world."
-- George Santayana
"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
"God has given you your country as cradle, and humanity as mother; you cannot rightly love your brethren of the cradle if you love not the common mother."
-- Giuseppe Mazzini
"Our true nationality is mankind."
-- H. G. Wells
"I think patriotism is like charity - it begins at home."
-- Henry James
"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
One Nation - Indivisible
"It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country."
-- Homer
"The single best augury is to fight for one's country."
-- Homer
"It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism."
-- J. Horace McFarland
"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 (1917 - 1963), Inaugural address, January 20, 1961
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, That we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the Survival and success of liberty."
-- John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address Washington, D.C. January 20, 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
"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me and I'll proudly stand next to him to defend her still today, cuz there aint no doubt I love this land, god bless the usa."
-- Lee Greenwood
A symbolic yellow ribbon ...
"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."
-- Malcolm X
"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 have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal'".
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
"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 a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans!"
-- Robert E. Lee
"Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between their native dislike for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there has been a rethinking [and] now we can say to you, and say as a nation, thank you for your courage."
-- Ronald Wilson Reagan 40th US President, Republican
The American flag waves in the breeze
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
-- Samuel Johnson
"The purpose of all war is ultimately peace."
-- Saint Augustine
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
-- Senator Barry Goldwater
"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
"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."
-- Sydney J. Harris
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
"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
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
-- Thomas Paine
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
-- Thomas Paine
Proud to be an American
"Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man."
-- Thomas Tusser
"Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America -- that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement."
-- Thomas Wolfe
"I have often asked myself why human beings have any rights at all. I always come to the conclusion that human rights, human freedoms, and human dignity have their deepest roots somewhere outside the perceptible world. These values are as powerful as they are because, under certain circumstances, people accept them without compulsion and are willing to die for them."
-- Vaclav Havel
"Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background, the countless minor scenes and interiors of the secession war; and it is best they should not. The real war will never get in the books."
-- Walt Whitman
"Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!"
-- Walter Scott
"The cost of liberty is less than the cost of repression."
-- WEB Dubois
"Patriotism does not oblige us to acquiesce in the destruction of liberty. Patriotism obliges us to question it, at least."
-- Wendy Kaminer
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
-- William Pitt
"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it."
-- Woodrow Wilson

Silhouette of Soldier in Front of Flag

Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness by Thomas Jefferson, Eric S. Petersen