Moreover, there was what Amy called “the cocksuckers’ contingent of the country”–what Danny knew as the dumber-than-dog-shit element, those bully patriots–and they were too set in their ways or too poorly educated (or both) to see beyond the ceaseless flag-waving and nationalistic bluster.
They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king.
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Bob Dylan
A regime that wraps itself in the flag of truth fears truth most of all, for if its story is falsified to the slightest degree, its authority is gone.
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Orson Scott Card
They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.
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Ernest Hemingway
A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.
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Winston S. Churchill
What struck me as I began to study history was how nationalist fervor--inculcated from childhood on by pledges of allegiance, national anthems, flags waving and rhetoric blowing--permeated the educational systems of all countries, including our own. I wonder now how the foreign policies of the...
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Howard Zinn
More Quotes By John Irving
It´s natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you have to let everything happen to them. You can't interfere with people you love any more than you're supposed to interfere with...
If you care about something you have to protect it — If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
My life is a reading list.
It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious.
It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.
