“Patriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.”
Patriotism at its best is love of country paired with the courage to make it better. These quotes explore national pride, civic duty, dissent, and the difference between blind loyalty and the kind of patriotism that demands accountability.
“There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.”
“Patriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.”
“Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.”
“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”
“There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.”
“I think English film is very embarrassed by patriotism, generally.”
“Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.”
“The mobilisation which Bush has been able to perform since 11 September 2001 has to be fought - at least by Americans - in the name of a wise, honourable and democratic patriotism.”
“There is a fuzzy but real distinction that can and I believe should be made, between patriotism, which is attachment to a way of life, and nationalism, which is the insistence that your way of life deserves to rule over other ways of life.”
“Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique.”
“It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country.”
“To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.”
“Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.”
“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.”
“Unfortunately, after Sept. 11, there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous.”
“I want to light the lights of patriotism.”