My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the read more

My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.

There ought to be a system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. read more

There ought to be a system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

I have no country to fight for: my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world.

I have no country to fight for: my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world.

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something read more

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have read more

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer

For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where read more

For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

The chief foundations of all states... are good laws and good arms. And as there cannot be good laws where read more

The chief foundations of all states... are good laws and good arms. And as there cannot be good laws where there are not good arms... where there are good arms there must be good laws...

"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except a desperate case. It read more

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

Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.

Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.