Quotes about patriotism?

Question

I need quotes about patriotism for an essay.... preferably by someone famous and important...

Answer 1

Here are some other patriotism quotes, looking at it from different angles:

The love of one's country is a splendid thing.  But why should love stop at the border?  ~Pablo Casals

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance.  It is also owed to justice and to humanity.  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.  ~James Bryce

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!  ~Albert Einstein

To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.  ~George Santayana

[P]atriotism... is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.  ~Adlai Stevenson

My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders.  ~Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.  ~Bertrand Russell

Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.  ~Seneca

Do not... regard the critics as questionable patriots.  What were Washington and Jefferson and Adams but profound critics of the colonial status quo?  ~Adlai Stevenson

Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.  ~George Jean Nathan

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.  To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may.  ~Mark Twain

"'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

  --  GK Chesterton  

Answer 2

Franklin, Benjamin   "Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

Adams, John Quincy "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

Addison, Joseph  "What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country."

Clinton, William J.   "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

Darrow, Clarence   "True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."

Faulkner, William "We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."

Hale, Nathan  "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Henry, Patrick  "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!"

Kennedy, John F. "We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution."

King Jr., Martin Luther  "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'".



lots more here:

http://www.americanpatriotweb.com/patrio...

Answer 3

Give me liberty or give me death is one of the most famous.Although Mark Twain said "majority is the customary patriotism," He also said " In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.

My favorite, " The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the nation all the time, loyalty to the government when it deserves it."

Answer 4

I have always found these quotations about patriotism to be poignant:

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.  I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."          

~ Abraham Lincoln

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

~ Nathan Hale

"...And so, my fellow Americans:  Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country..."

~ John F. Kennedy

"Patriotism...is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

~ Adlai E. Stevenson

"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance.  It is also owed to justice and to humanity.  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong."  

~ James Bryce (politician, diplomat, and historian -- 1838-1922)

"It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of patriotism."

~ J. Horace McFarland (business and civic leader -- 1859 -1948)

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."

~ John Adams