#patriot

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

Only with the honour thus acquired can we earn the respect of our other compatriots as well. ↗

— Janos Kadar

#compatriots #earn #honour #only #other

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

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead. ↗

— Voltaire

#dead #friend #great #humanitarian #loyal

I have never been afraid of making patriots; but I disdain and despise all their efforts. ↗

— Robert Walpole

#been #despise #disdain #efforts #i

Even a liberal reporter is a patriot, wants the best for this country. And people, your fair and balanced friends at Fox, don't fully understand that. ↗

— Mike Wallace

#best #country #even #fair #fox

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

— Robert Walpole

#duly #gentlemen #great #great deal #patriotism

There's a school of thought today that rejects patriotism. People are made nervous by that intense allegiance to a country. They think it can only lead to war and bloodshed and that fights can be avoided if we all just compromise and get along. And, of course, compromise and getting along are great things as long as you're not sacrificing essential values. But I believe there's a line in the sand, some things that you have to be willing to stand up for, even if it means trouble. Charlie's patriotism is not blind, flag-waving jingoism: it's an intense allegiance to the American concept of liberty. He's through and through. He can talk about it and explain it. And he's shown he's willing to give everything for it. I admire him for that. ↗

— Andrew Klavan

#attitude #beliefs #freedom #inspirational #liberty

Today we are fighting Communism. Okay. If I'd been alive fifty years ago, the brand of Conservatism we have today would have been damn near called Communism and we should have been told to go and fight that. History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts. ↗

— Ian Fleming

#good-and-evil #patriotism #change