On Nationalism and Patriotism

As America prepares to celebrate the birth of its nation, here are some quotes for reflection:

Thanks to Peace Buttons for this information.

” Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”
George Bernard Shaw | author

“Patriotism … is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.”
Emma Goldman | organizer/anarchist

“…(we)deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals and positions.”
Martin Luther King Jr | civil rights leader

” The love of one’s country
is a splendid thing.
But why should love
stop at the border?”
Pablo Casals | musician

” Patriotism is when love of your
own people comes first;
nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”
Charles de Gaulle | French leader

“Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use
first to shrink-wrap people’s brains
and then as ceremonial shrouds
to bury the dead.”
Arundhati Roy | author

” Nationalism is an infantile disease.
It is the measles of mankind”.
Albert Einstein | scientist

” Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”
Bertrand Russell | philosopher

” Patriotism is loving your country always
and your government when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain | author

“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 | author

One thought on “On Nationalism and Patriotism”

Differentiate between patriotism and nationalism
If Charles de Gaulle is right that “patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first” then Albert Einstein is definitely right that “nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
That would also imply that there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism and that patriotism should be fostered rather then being decried by you. I think it is important to recognize and vocally oppose the mistakes of the government, but that still allows us to be patriotic as Mark Twain says “patriotism is loving your country always and your government when it deserves it.”

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