True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels themthe desire to do rightis precisely the same.

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

—Bertrand Russell

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.

—Bertrand Russell

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

—Bertrand Russell

We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.

—Bertrand Russell

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others.

—Bertrand Russell

To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

—Edmund Burke

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

—Edward Abbey

Q: What's the difference between religion and patriotism?
A: When a dog howls at the moon, that's religion. When a dog barks at a stranger, that's patriotism.

—Unknown

I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.

—Simone Weil

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

—George Bernard Shaw