Inspiring Patriotism: A Powerful Collection of Quotes to Stir Your Soul

"Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong."

- James Bryce

"Duty, honor, country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be."

- Gen. Douglas MacArthur

"“I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.”"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”"

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"“Duty, honor, country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”"

- Douglas MacArthur

"“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

"“Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost.”"

- Robert A. Heinlein

"“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”"

- John F. Kennedy

"“True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth.”"

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"To destroy governmental violence, only one thing is needed: It is that people should understand that the feeling of patriotism, which alone supports that instrument of violence, is a rude, harmful, disgraceful, and bad feeling, and, above all, is immoral."

- Leo Tolstoy

"A man who says that no patriot should attack the war until it is over is saying no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen."

- G.K. Chesterton

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."

- Howard Zinn

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

- Howard Thurman

"America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor."

- Paul Tsongas

"“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.”"

- Barack Obama

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

- Albert Einstein

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

- Samuel Johnson

"You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it."

- Malcolm X

"Patriotism is usually the refuge of the scoundrel. He is the man who talks the loudest."

- Elbert Hubbard

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders… All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism."

- Hermann Goring

"Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched."

- Guy de Maupassant

"In wartime, the loudest patriots are the greatest profiteers."

- August Bebel

"“I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.”"

- Bob Dylan

"“May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.”"

- Peter Marshall

"“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”"

- Benjamin Franklin

"“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.”"

- Theodore Roosevelt

"“The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion—it is an idea—and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.”"

- Condoleezza Rice

"“Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”"

- John McCain

"“In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.”"

- Barack Obama

"“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.”"

- Bill Clinton

"“The fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.”"

- Franklin Roosevelt

"“May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own Country!”"

- Daniel Webster

"“Change often seems impossible until it is inevitable. Just as we must own our lives, we must own our country. For we, the people, are ultimately in control of America’s story.”"

- Valerie Jarrett

"“One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, One Nation evermore!”"

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”"

- Douglas MacArthur

"“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”"

- Thomas Paine

"“Independence now and Independence forever!”"

- Daniel Webster

"“Freedom is never granted; it is won.”"

- A. Philip Randolph

"“This [nation] will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”"

- Elmer Davis

"“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”"

- Malcolm X

"“We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.”"

- Ronald Reagan

"“Our American flag is more than cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty and freedom. It is the history of our nation, marked by the blood of those who died defending it.”"

- John Thune

"“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”"

- Adlai Stevenson

"Patriotism is the passion of fools and the most foolish of passions."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

"“My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.”"

- G.K. Chesterton

"“A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.”"

- Winston S. Churchill

"“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”"

- William Faulkner

"“This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.”"

- Thurgood Marshall

"“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.”"

- Herbert Hoover

"“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”"

- George Orwell

"“May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!”"

- Daniel Webster

"“It’s important because we let people know why America is what it is. It’s about an ideal and that ideal is freedom for everybody.”"

- Oprah Winfrey

"“For, we, the people, are ultimately in control of the America’s story.”"

- Valerie Jarrett

"“Liberty is the breath of life to nations.”"

- George Bernard Shaw

"“May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn’t free.”"

- Sgt. Major Bill Paxton

"“I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism.”"

- Bob Riley

"“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.”"

- Frederick Douglass

"“What I can do for my country, I am willing to do.”"

- Christopher Gadsen

"Patriotism is a menace to liberty."

- Emma Goldman

"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons."

- Bertrand Russell

"Patriotism is the conviction that your country is superior to all others because you were born in it."

- George Bernard Shaw

"Professed patriotism may be made the cover for a multitude of sins."

- Robert C. Winthrop

"Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the aftermath of war, the victors would write history to glorify their deeds and justify the wars. But war is never justified."

- Marcus Garvey

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

- Edward Abbey

"Patriotism means supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

- Mark Twain

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"War is the health of the State. Only when the State is at war does the modern society function with that unity of sentiment, simple uncritical patriotic devotion, cooperation of services, which have always been the ideal of the State lover."

- Randolph Bourne

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

- James Baldwin

"Patriotism is not obedience to government. Patriotism is obedience to the principles for which government is supposed to stand."

- Howard Zinn

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."

- Oscar Wilde

"The problem with patriotism is that it invariably leads to war."

- Albert Einstein

"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

"Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism – and wars."

- Dale Carnegie

"Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate."

- Emma Goldman

"“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.”"

- George William Curtis

"“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”"

- Nathan Hale

"May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn't free."

- Sgt. Major Bill Paxton

"I think patriotism is like charity—it begins at home."

- Henry James

"“Patriotism is like charity—it begins at home.”"

- Henry James

"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."

- Bob Dylan

"“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”"

- Charles de Gaulle

"“National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.”"

- Richard Rorty

"“Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history.”"

- Mary Roach

"“The fact is, with every friendship you make and every bond of trust you establish, you are shaping the image of America projected to the rest of the world.”"

- Michelle Obama

"“America is a tune. It must be sung together.”"

- Gerald Stanley Lee

"“America. It is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time.”"

- Thomas Wolfe

"“Patriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing for their country.”"

- Bertrand Russell

"“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”"

- James Baldwin

"“Freedom lies in being bold.”"

- Robert Frost

"“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.”"

- Albert Camus

"People who enjoy waving flags don’t deserve to have one"

- Banksy

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better."

- Albert Camus

"“The land of opportunity. You just need the right people and the right work ethic and you can accomplish anything.”"

- Bob Poser

"True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Where liberty is, there is my country."

- Benjamin Franklin

"This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."

- Thurgood Marshall

"It's better to fight for something in life than to die for nothing."

- Gen. George S. Patton

"The legacy of heroes—the memory of a great name, and the inheritance of a great example."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"America is a tune. It must be sung together."

- Gerald Stanley Lee

"Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."

- John McCain

"We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions-bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

- Bill Clinton

"There is one thing that the American people always rise to and extend their hand to, and that is the truth of justice and of liberty and of peace."

- Woodrow Wilson

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."

- John F. Kennedy

"I think patriotism is like charity – it begins at home."

- Henry James

"“You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.”"

- George Bernard Shaw

"In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."

- Barack Obama

"I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.