Nationalism

Nationalism is a term denoting a strong association of individuals and groups with a national identity, often involving particular political beliefs which can range from those which assert citizenship in a state should be limited to one ethnic group, to those with far broader notions of the aims and ideals of patriotism and the proper protection and promotion of social devotions.

See also: Patriotism

Quotes

• If love is blind, patriotism has lost all five senses.
  • William Blum, Rogue State (2006)

• Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none.
  • Stuart Chase^{[citation needed]}

• I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.
  • Albert Einstein, in a letter to Alfred Kneser (7 June 1918); Doc. 560 in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8

• Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
  • Albert Einstein, as quoted in Viereck, George Sylvester (26 October 1929), "What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck", The Saturday Evening Post: 117, retrieved on 10 July 2012 

• I am against any nationalism, even in the guise of mere patriotism. Privileges based on position and property have always seemed to me unjust and pernicious, as did any exaggerated personality cult.
  • Albert Einstein, My Credo (1932)

• Nationalism ... is like cheap alcohol. First it makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it kills you.
  • Dan Fried, US diplomat (Jan 07)^{[citation needed]}

• Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. "Patriotism" is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism” I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one’s own nation, which is the concern with the nation’s spiritual as much as with its material welfare — never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one’s country which is not part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.
  • Erich Fromm, in The Sane Society (1955)

• Nations whose nationalism is destroyed are subject to ruin.
  • Muammar al-Gaddafi^{[citation needed]}

• The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
  • Sydney J. Harris, Strictly Personal (1953), "Purely Personal Prejudices"

• Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
  • Samuel Johnson, statement of 7 April 1775, as quoted in Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) by James Boswell, p. 253; Boswell's full mention of this statement reads:

Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.

• Our hearts where they rocked our cradle
  Our love where we spent our toil,
  And our faith, and our hope, and our honour,
  We pledge to our native soil.
  • Rudyard Kipling, The Native-Born (1894)

• God gave all men all earth to love
  But since our hearts are small
  Ordained for each one spot should prove
  Beloved over all.
  • Rudyard Kipling, Sussex (1902)

• Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.
  • George Orwell^{[citation needed]}

• Nationalism was so perfectly suited to its double task, the domestication of workers and the despoliation of aliens, that it appealed to everyone - everyone, that is, who wielded or aspired to wield a portion of capital.
  • Fredy Perlman, "The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism" (1984)

• [The newspapers] are talking of nationalism as if it were the property of an individual or as if it were confined to one group only. Nationalism is the property of all. Nobody can take possession of it just as a glittering word which attracts the hearts of stupid people.
  • Abd al-Karim Qasim (1959) The historical extempore speech at the Reserve Officers' College

• What are the phenomena of nationalism? Here are some of them: 1) National egoism, from which many other negative traits of nationalism are derived, as for example — a desire for foreign conquest, a desire to oppress other nations, a desire to impose economic exploitation upon other nations, and so on; 2) national-chauvinism which is also a source of many other negative traits of nationalism, as for example national hatred, the disparagement of other nations, the disparagement of their history, culture, and scientific activities and scientific achievements, and so on, the glorification of developments in their own history that were negative and which from our Marxist point of view are considered negative.
  • Tito, Concerning the National Question and Social Patriotism Speech held at the Slovene Academy of Arts and Sciences, November 26, 1948, Ljubljana

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

• Sow but one seed of primal evil in the moral soil of a nation, it will grow to be a tree as broad as the sky, — to take fruitful- ness from the earth wherein it is rooted, and to cover it instead with barrenness and gloom.
  • Henry Giles, p. 427.

• To avert national decay, then, the moral character must be guarded. The mighty heart of the nation must be kept sound, so that its pulses, when once roused, will, like the ocean in its strength, sweep all before it. So long as the moral tone is preserved, the sun of our glory will not set; there will come no national decay and death.
  • Frederick William Robertson, p. 427.

• The whole track of history is marked with the ruin of empires which having been founded in injustice, or perpetuated by wrong, were ultimately destroyed.
  • William Mackergo Taylor, p. 427.

• It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to Anglo-American society. In the United States, religion is therefore commingled with all the habits of the nation and all the feelings of patriotism; whence it derives a peculiar force.
  • Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 426.

• If the great questions of the beginning of this century were mainly political, those which will convulse the world at its close will be social.
  • Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 427.

• Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert those pillars of human happiness, those firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
  • George Washington, p. 426.

• No advanced thought, no mystical philosophy, no glittering abstractions, no swelling phrases about freedom, not even science with its marvelous inventions and discoveries, can help us much in sustaining this republic; still less can godless theories of creation, or any infidel attempt to rule out the Redeemer from His rightful supremacy in our hearts, afford any hope of security. That way lies despair.
  • Robert Charles Winthrop, p. 425.