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Quote by Leo Tolstoy

“It would, therefore, seem obvious that patriotism as a feeling is bad and harmful, and as a doctrine is stupid. For it is clear that if each people and each State considers itself the best of peoples and States, they all live in a gross and harmful delusion.”

Book:I Cannot be Silent: Writings on Politics, Art and Religion by Leo Tolstoy

Work

I Cannot be Silent: Writings on Politics, Art and Religion by Leo Tolstoy

This book compiles a selection of essays written by Leo Tolstoy, delving into his thoughts on politics, art, and religion. The essays reflect Tolstoy's deep philosophical inquiries and personal reflections on these subjects. more

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer and thinker, a prominent representative of 19th-century Russian literature. His works deeply revealed social contradictions and human nature, and had a profound impact on the world. more

“In our day the feeling of patriotism is an unnatural, irrational, and harmful feeling, and a cause of a great part of the ills from which mankind is suffering, and that, consequently, this feeling - should not be cultivated, as is now being done, but should, on the contrary, be suppressed and eradicated by all means available to rational men.”

Men Should Mean Done Feelings Suffering Causes Mankind Available Contrary Rational Patriotism Patriotic Irrational Unnatural Being Done

Book:Essays and Letters /by Leo Tolstoy ; Translated by Aylmer Maude

Source: Essays and Letters /by Leo Tolstoy ; Translated by Aylmer Maude

“A man can be a Christian or a patriot, but he can't legally be a Christian and a patriot - except in the usual way: one of the two with the mouth, the other with the heart.”

Men Way Heart Two Christian Mouths Patriotism Usual Patriot Christian Patriotic

Book:Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations

Source: Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations

“The spirit of Christianity proclaims the brotherhood of the race and the meaning of that strong word has not been left to guesswork, but made tremendously definite - the Christian must forgive his brother man all crimes he can imagine and commit, and all insults he can conceive and utter - forgive these injuries how many times? - seventy times seven - another way of saying there shall be no limit to this forgiveness. That is the spirit and the law of Christianity.”

Source: Mark Twain and the three R's: race, religion, revolution--and related matters

“Well - Patriotism has its laws. And it also is a perfectly definite one, there are not vaguenesses about it. It commands that the brother over the border shall be sharply watched and brought to book every time he does us a hurt or offends us with an insult.”

Wells Doe Book Law Hurt Brother Command Borders Insult Patriotism Definite Vagueness

Book:Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations

Source: Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations

“Word it as softly as you please, the spirit of patriotism is the spirit of the dog and wolf. The moment there is a misunderstanding about a boundary line or a hamper of fish or some other squalid matter, see patriotism rise, and hear him split the universe with is war-whoop. The spirit of patriotism being in its nature jealous and selfish, is just in man's line, it comes natural to him - he can live up to all its requirements to the letter; but the spirit of Christianity is not in its entirety possible to him.”

Source: The Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated Edition): Novels, Short Stories, Memoir, Travel Books, Letters, Biography, Articles & Speeches: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, Yankee in King Arthur's Court…

“There was something horrifying in the realization that, in this twenty-first century of what we call 'civilization,' we have carved up what we claim is one world into 200 artificially created entities we call 'nations' and armed to apprehend or kill anyone who crosses a boundary.”

World Firsts Nations Century Civilization Crosses Claims Twenties Boundaries Realization Entity

Author:Howard Zinn

“Is not nationalism - that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder - one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking - cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on - have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.”