#otis

One question in my mind, which I hardly dare mention in public, is whether patriotism has, overall, been a force for good or evil in the world. Patriotism is rampant in war and there are some good things about it. Just as self-respect and pride bring out the best in an individual, pride in family, pride in teammates, pride in hometown bring out the best in groups of people. War brings out the kind of pride in country that encourages its citizens in the direction of excellence and it encourages them to be ready to die for it. At no time do people work so well together to achieve the same goal as they do in wartime. Maybe that's enough to make patriotism eligible to be considered a virtue. If only I could get out of my mind the most patriotic people who ever lived, the Nazi Germans. ↗

— Andy Rooney

#nazi #patriotism #pride #virtue #war

I certainly didn't concur with Edward on everything, but I was damned if I would hear him abused without saying a word. And I think this may be worth setting down, because there are other allegiances that can be stress-tested in comparable ways. It used to be a slight hallmark of being English or British that one didn't make a big thing out of patriotic allegiance, and was indeed brimful of sarcastic and critical remarks about the old country, but would pull oneself together and say a word or two if it was attacked or criticized in any nasty or stupid manner by anybody else. It's family, in other words, and friends are family to me. I feel rather the same way about being an American, and also about being of partly Jewish descent. To be any one of these things is to be no better than anyone else, but no worse. When confronted by certain enemies, it is increasingly the 'most definitely no worse' half of this unspoken agreement on which I tend to lay the emphasis. (As with Camus’s famous 'neither victim nor executioner,' one hastens to assent but more and more to say 'definitely not victim.') ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#britain #britishness #camus #edward-said #family

Pure entertainment is not an egotistical lady singing boring songs onstage for two hours and people in tuxes clapping whether they like it or not. It's the real performers on the street who can hold people's attention and keep them from walking away. ↗

— Andy Kaufman

#away #boring #egotistical #entertainment #hold

To add to our misery and despair, a bloated aristocracy has sent to China - the greatest and oldest despotism in the world - for a cheap working slave. ↗

— Denis Kearney

#aristocracy #bloated #cheap #china #despair

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child? ↗

— Lin Yutang

#food #patriotism #food

Patriotism was a living fire of unquestioned belief and purpose. ↗

— Frank Knox

#belief #fire #living #patriotism #purpose

The greater the state, the more wrong and cruel its patriotism, and the greater is the sum of suffering upon which its power is founded. ↗

— Leo Tolstoy

#cruel #founded #greater #more #power

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism. ↗

— Howard Thurman

#during #even #guise #hatred #masquerade

Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. A patriot shows their their patriotism through their actions, by their choice. ↗

— Jesse Ventura

#actions #allegiance #belief #choice #feeling

Gentlemen have talked a great deal of patriotism. A venerable word, when duly practiced. ↗

— Robert Walpole

#duly #gentlemen #great #great deal #patriotism