Thousands of people took part in a pro-independence march and rally in Edinburgh yesterday. In response Socialist Courier posts some relevant quotations from various famous figures.
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." - Albert Einstein, The World As I See It, 1934
Political scientist Benedict Anderson describes nations as socially constructed "imagined communities," because "the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion."
"So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one's fatherland is to wish evil to one's neighbours. The citizen of the universe would the man who wishes his country never to be either greater or smaller, richer or poorer." - Voltaire, "Fatherland" in "Miracles and Idolatry" (Selections from the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764)
"It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars" - Arthur C. Clarke, "The Exploration of Space" (1951)
"Our true nationality is mankind." - H.G. Wells
"I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth; I am a citizen of the world." - Eugene V Debs
"The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The workers have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got" - Communist Manifesto
“A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and a common fear of its neighbors.” - W.R. Inge
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?" - Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist and composer
If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country." - E.M. Forster
Dr. Samuel Johnson said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Oscar Wilde said "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy” - George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen” - Ambrose Bierce, American writer
“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.” - Guy de Maupassant, French writer
"Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill and calling for larger spurs and brighter beaks.” - "The Colonel's Daughter" by Richard Aldington
"Tell people that patriotism is bad and most of them will laugh and say: ‘Yes, bad patriotism is bad, but my patriotism is good!’ ” - Leo Tolstoy
“Patriotism is a superstition, one far more injurious, brutal and inhumane than religion.” - Gustave Herve
Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner. It is for that purpose that we are clamoring for a greater army and navy, more battleships and ammunition." - Emma Goldman, "What is Patriotism?" (1908)
"Humans fighting over who owns the land is like fleas fighting over who owns the dog" - Crocodile Dundee.
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." - Albert Einstein, The World As I See It, 1934
Political scientist Benedict Anderson describes nations as socially constructed "imagined communities," because "the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion."
"So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one's fatherland is to wish evil to one's neighbours. The citizen of the universe would the man who wishes his country never to be either greater or smaller, richer or poorer." - Voltaire, "Fatherland" in "Miracles and Idolatry" (Selections from the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764)
"It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars" - Arthur C. Clarke, "The Exploration of Space" (1951)
"Our true nationality is mankind." - H.G. Wells
"I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth; I am a citizen of the world." - Eugene V Debs
"The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The workers have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got" - Communist Manifesto
“A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and a common fear of its neighbors.” - W.R. Inge
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?" - Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist and composer
If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country." - E.M. Forster
Dr. Samuel Johnson said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Oscar Wilde said "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy” - George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen” - Ambrose Bierce, American writer
“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.” - Guy de Maupassant, French writer
"Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill and calling for larger spurs and brighter beaks.” - "The Colonel's Daughter" by Richard Aldington
"Tell people that patriotism is bad and most of them will laugh and say: ‘Yes, bad patriotism is bad, but my patriotism is good!’ ” - Leo Tolstoy
“Patriotism is a superstition, one far more injurious, brutal and inhumane than religion.” - Gustave Herve
Conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner. It is for that purpose that we are clamoring for a greater army and navy, more battleships and ammunition." - Emma Goldman, "What is Patriotism?" (1908)
"Humans fighting over who owns the land is like fleas fighting over who owns the dog" - Crocodile Dundee.
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