patriot quotes

'My country right or wrong', is a thing that no patriot would thinkof saying except in a desperate case.It is like saying,'My mother, drunkor sober'. See Decatur 258:8.

- G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton
The Defendant,'Defence of Patriotism'.

Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.

-John Dryden
Absalom and  Achitophel, pt.1, l.968.

But is he a patriot for me?

-Francis I
On being assured of the loyalty of a candidate for high office. The phrase was later used as a title by John Osborne for his1965 play.

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink fromtheservice of his country; but hethat standsit now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

-Thomas Paine
  The Crisis, introduction, Dec.