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It’s no secret that Americans are considered patriotic. There’s huge pride in the country for everything American, from a love of football and baseball to the celebration of freedom. Waving flags, singing the national anthem, and honoring veterans are all second nature. So it’s no surprise Americans have a special place in their hearts for Independence Day!
The 4th of July is undoubtedly the most remarkable holiday for the United States, one of those days that brings people together as a nation to celebrate what makes it unique. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the past and what made America great while also looking ahead to ponder its future and what can be done to make the country even better. For everyone.
Whatever your stance on it is, patriotism is a complex topic, and many things have been said by both parties. So we decided to collect some well-known quotes about patriotism, from the most inspiring to the most thought-provoking.
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#1
"A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works." - Bill Vaughan
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#2
"Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about." - Mark Twain
#3
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
#4
"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." - Clarence Darrow
#5
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." - Edward Abbey
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
The government is what keeps the country together. Without it we are just all individuals who just happen to live in the same area. If you fight against the government aren't you fighting against your country? For all the people who want to fight to "take back your country" what, exactly, are you taking back?
#6
"I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world." - Eugene V. Debs
#7
"One of the great attractions of patriotism - it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous." - Aldous Huxley
#9
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?" - Pablo Casals
#10
"You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race." - George Bernard Shaw
#11
"It's not always clear where a healthy patriotism shades into a dangerous nationalism." - Ross Douthat
Tmartin105 2 years ago
Honestly, that's something I've always struggled with. My solace is that I believe ny awareness of the line is what keeps me from crossing over it
#12
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." - Mark Twain
#13
"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." - Bertrand Russell
#14
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson
#17
"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!" - Albert Einstein
Tmartin105 2 years ago
One must understand his point of view after fleeing from the third reich
#18
"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth." - Stonewall Jackson
#19
"A steady patriot of the world alone, the friend of every country but his own." - George Canning
#20
"From my father's point of view, without a thought for self, a true patriot stands up against the stones of condemnation and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice or the halls of government." - Thomas Steinbeck
Kayjunmoon 2 years ago
I would say this is a decent human beans nothing to do with being a patriot.
#21
"One tell-tale sign of a Wingnut: they always confuse partisanship with patriotism." - John Avlon
#22
"We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior." - Friedrich Durrenmatt
#23
"To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography." - George Santayana
#24
"I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?" - Bill Maher
#26
"Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors." - Arthur Schopenhauer
#27
"There are those who wrap themselves in flags and blow the tinny trumpet of patriotism as a means of fooling the people." - George Galloway
#29
"True patriotism is loving your country and countrymen enough to want to make it better." - Malcolm Jenkins
#31
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy
#32
"I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it's marked by the blood of those who died defending it." - John Thune
#33
"Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory." - George S. Patton
#34
"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth." - Abraham Lincoln
#35
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." - Adlai Stevenson II
#36
"The most tragic paradox of our time is to be found in the failure of nation-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism." - Earl Warren
#37
"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!" - Patrick Henry
#39
"The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest." - Oliver Tambo
#40
"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." - Harry S. Truman
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
I had an epiphany about this the other day. Generations before us did great things because they had to. They set up the infrastructure to make things easier. Now, we're the generation who benefits from their hard work. They did because they had to, we don't have to, so we don't.
#41
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." - Winston Churchill
#42
"Patriotism is usually stronger than class hatred, and always stronger than internationalism." - George Orwell
#43
"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms never never never!" - William Pitt
#44
"A nation is the same people living in the same place." - James Joyce
#45
"The sole and basic source of our strength is the solidarity of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia, the solidarity of the nation, the solidarity of people who seek to live in dignity, truth, and in harmony with their conscience." - Lech Walesa
#46
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first." - Charles de Gaulle
#48
"There is much more to being a patriot and a citizen than reciting the pledge or raising a flag." - Jesse Ventura
#49
"Let us form one body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers." - Tecumseh
#50
"No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach." - William Cowper
#51
"The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave." - Alexander Pope
#52
"Unless our conception of patriotism is progressive, it cannot hope to embody the real affection and the real interest of the nation." - Jane Addams
#53
"A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors." - William Inge
#54
"It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars." - Arthur C. Clarke
#55
"If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen." - Ronald Reagan
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
If you can love all of your countrymen then it shouldn't be a stretch to love all men.
#57
"I am willing to serve my country, but do not wish to sacrifice the brave men under my command." - John Buford
#58
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles." - George Jean Nathan
#59
"I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit had chosen anyone to be the chief of this country, it is myself." - Sitting Bull
#61
"It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country." - Alfred Adler
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
Like, lie down or say something that isn't true? Neither sounds like a good idea.
#62
"The proper means of increasing the love we bear our native country is to reside some time in a foreign one." - William Shenstone
#64
"There are no points of the compass on the chart of true patriotism." - Robert Charles Winthrop
#66
"Patriotism demands the ability to feel shame as much as to feel pride." - Anne-Marie Slaughter
Kayjunmoon 2 years ago (edited)
Many would say shame is not patriotic. That you are not a patriot if you criticise your country. It is used as a stick to control.
#68
"Patriotism is a strong nationalistic feeling for a country whose borders and whose legitimacy and ethnic composition is taken for granted." - Michael Ignatieff
#69
"Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." - James Bryce
#71
"When I grew up, I only had two dreams. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses." - Chris Kyle
#72
"It's almost worth having been in the army for the joy your freedom gives you." - John Dos Passos
#73
"Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism." - Joe Biden
#74
"For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language." - Joseph Brodsky
#75
"I am not Left or Right. I believe in nationalism, patriotism, the federal structure, democracy, and the poor." - Mamata Banerjee
#76
"There's intense national feeling in America that could be called patriotism." - Michael Ignatieff
#77
"The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny." - David Hume
#78
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw
#79
"Gentlemen have talked a great deal of patriotism. A venerable word, when duly practiced." - Robert Walpole
#80
"The American flag is the symbol of our freedom, national pride, and history." - Mike Fitzpatrick
#81
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." - Elmer Davis
#83
"I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." - Edith Cavell
#84
"It is the pride of my heart to have been one of the earliest adopted sons of America." - Marquis de Lafayette
#85
"No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots." - Barbara Ehrenreich
#86
"For you are the makers of the flag and it is well that you glory in the making." - Franklin Knight Lane
#87
"The American patriots of today continue the tradition of the long line of patriots before them, by helping to promote liberty and freedom around the world." - John Linder
#89
"If I were to live my life over again, I would be an American. I would steep myself in America, I would know no other land." - Henry James
#90
"Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilization against barbarism." - Bill Kristol
#92
"Next to the love of God, the love of country is the best preventive of crime." - George Borrow
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
*buzzer sound* Oh, I'm sorry, that's not correct. Thanks for playing.
#93
"It is but refusing to gratify an unreasonable or an insolent demand, and up starts a patriot." - Robert Walpole
#94
"I gave my heart to the Americans and thought of nothing else but raising my banner and adding my colors to theirs." - Marquis de Lafayette
#95
"I believe patriotism comes from the heart. Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief." - Jesse Ventura
#96
"I want to light the lights of patriotism." - Lech Walesa
#100
"Into the soul of every student, I would have instilled the patriotic fervor of Patrick Henry." - David O. McKay
#101
"True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going." - Robert Reich
#102
"Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man's starving!" - O. Henry
#103
"But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism." - Thomas E. Mann
#104
"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." - Ronald Reagan
Eat Dirt Crow 2 years ago
England was one nation under a god. That's why they left and created a nation that gave freedom of religion. Makes me wonder if we are supposed to be one nation under all gods.
#106
"The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults." - Alexis de Tocqueville
#107
"It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind." - Voltaire
#108
"It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn't save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I'm not naive, and I don't romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job." - Chris Kyle
#109
"Let the living give thanks to our honored dead who have paid the ultimate sacrifice that the Constitution of the United States remains our guiding light." - Bob Latta
#110
"To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag." - Pauline Hanson
#111
"I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service." - John F. Kerry
#112
"The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of the official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain." - George McGovern
#113
"Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." - Calvin Coolidge
#114
"Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism - and wars." - Dale Carnegie
#115
"Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched." - Guy de Maupassant
#117
"We'll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail." - Dave Barry
#118
"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." - Adam Carolla
#119
"Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country." - Sinclair Lewis
#120
"They are patriotic in times of war because it is in their interest to be so, but in times of peace, they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead." - Henry A. Wallace
#122
"For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?" - Lord Byron
#124
"When a dog barks at the moon, then it is religion; but when he barks at strangers, it is patriotism!" - David Starr Jordan
#125
"I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be." - Bob Dylan
#126
"Our flag honors those who have fought to protect it, and is a reminder of the sacrifice of our nation's founders and heroes. As the ultimate icon of America's storied history, the Stars and Stripes represents the very best of this nation." - Joe Barton
#127
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency." - Douglas MacArthur
#128
"Our national motto is 'In God we Trust,' reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all." - Marco Rubio
#129
"I'm an advocate of the great Dr. Johnson, the English man of letters who said that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel." - George Galloway
#131
"It's my firm conviction that when Uncle Sam calls, by God we go, and we do the best that we can." - R. Lee Ermey
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