5 quotes
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice — and always has been.
There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.
License of the Press (1873)
"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot"
Mark Twain's Notebook (1935)
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
I would throw out the old maxim, ‘My country, right or wrong,’ etc., and instead I would say, ‘My country when she is right.’ Because patriotism is supporting your country all the time, but your government only when it deserves it.
Address to the Male Teachers Association of the City of New York (1901)