A patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest.
Some claim a place in the list of patriots, by an acrimonious and unremitting opposition to the court. This mark is by no means infallible. Patriotism is not necessarily included in rebellion. A man may hate his king, yet not love his country.
He that wishes to see his country robbed of its rights cannot be a patriot.
A country is in a bad state, which is governed only by laws; because a thousand things occur for which laws cannot provide, and where authority ought to interpose.
Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don’t let him go to the devil, where he is known.
A blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another.
A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.
Sir, when you have seen one green field, you have seen all green fields. Let us walk down Cheapside.
A small country town is not the place in which one would choose to quarrel with a wife; every human being in such places is a spy.
The charm of London is that you are never glad or sorry for ten minutes together; in the country you are one or the other for weeks.
A country gentleman should bring his lady to visit London as soon as he can, that they may have agreeable topicks for conversation when they are by themselves.
What I gained by being in France was learning to be better satisfied with my own country.
Slavery is now nowhere more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty.
To a people warlike and indigent, an incursion into a rich country is never hurtful.
The uniform necessities of human nature produce in a great measure uniformity of life, and for part of the day make one place like another; to dress and to undress, to eat and to sleep, are the same in London as in the country.
There is no sense and no sanity in objecting to the desecration of the flag while tolerating and justifying and encouraging as a daily business the desecration of the country for which it stands.
The road is a word, conceived elsewhere and laid across the country in the wound prepared for it: a word made concrete and thrust among us.
The uplands of my home country in north central Kentucky are sloping and easily eroded, dependent for safekeeping upon year-round cover of perennial plants.
Hunger is a powerful persuader if it happens, and it’s conceivable that it could happen. Country people have always known this.
At length I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the country people had no bread, replied, “Let them eat cake”.