What this country needs – what every country needs occasionally – is a good hard bloody war to revive the vice of patriotism on which its existence as a nation depends.
Ambrose Bierce Quotes
Patriot, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.
Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish read to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name.
Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen.
Patriotism: In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary, patriotism is defined as “The last refuge of a scoundrel”. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first.
Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
Past, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance. (T)he Past is the Future of yesterday, the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one – the knowledge and the dream.
Pardon, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.
Success, n. The one unpardonable sin against one’s fellows.
Urbanity, n. The kind of civility that urban observers ascribe to dwellers in all cities but New York. Its commonest expression is heard in the words, “I beg your pardon,” and it is not consistent with disregard of the rights of others.
