Thoughts for the day -- Independance Day Part 1

As promised, here a several more quotes surrounding patriotism, etc. Hope these provoke thought in your own life...

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
-- Adlai Stevenson

Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master! --Thomas Jefferson

Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let man label you as they may.

-- Mark Twain

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.

-- Hamilton Fish

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want--which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.

-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.

-- Mark Twain

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

-- Thomas Jefferson

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

-- Thomas Paine

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.

-- William Faulkner

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

-- Erma Bombeck

You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

-- Malcolm X