“We'll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail.”
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.
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
“We'll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail.”
“Patriotism is considered to be an emotion a person ought to feel. But why? Why is it nobler to love your own country than to love someone else's?”
“If you are tired of partisanship over patriotism, you need to vote for a change in direction.”
“Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.”
“It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country.”
“Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful.”
“You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.”
“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. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.”
“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”
“Some versions of patriotism come close to the tribal, which we all want to surpass, and some don't.”
“Well, the post office is probably not the place you want to go if you want to be infused with patriotism and a renewed sense of vigor.”
“We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior.”
“There is no patriotic obligation to help advance the career of a politician who is otherwise pursuing interests that are fundamentally antithetical to your values. That's not the call of patriotism.”
“In every society in human history, including the United States, those in power seek to imbue themselves with the attributes of religion and patriotism as a way of getting greater support for their policy and insulating themselves from any criticism.”