Paul Valery Quotes

I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in in Greek exceptionalism.

I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

Donald Trump may not speak explicitly of 'who we are,' but with his promise to make America great again, he engages in his own kind of identity politics, signaling that the nation has lost its sense of self. That gets to people.

Most Americans are exceptionalists; we think we live outside of history.

We are not just any nation.

The British are special. The world knows it. In our innermost thoughts we know it. This is the greatest nation on earth.

American exceptionalism is the recurring character in the nation's narrative.

It seems to me psychologically I'm a Canadian.

I have to admit, I'm not patriotic. It has partly to do with principle, but it is also a phobia/neurosis.

You never can say too much in praise of your country and its inhabitants. Two nations in Europe are really almost ridiculous in their own exaggerated praises of themselves; these are the English and the French.

It's easy to deprecate some of the puffery and jingoism that often go with affirmations of 'American greatness.' It's also easy to confuse greatness with perfection, as if evidence of our shortcomings is proof of our mediocrity.

There is a lot of learned material written about nationalism - scholarly books and papers, histories of it, theories of it - but most of us understand that nationalism, at its heart, at its very deepest roots, is about a feeling of superiority: We are better than you. Our country is better than your country.

Beyond institutional amnesia, a rejection of causal analysis is the existential rock on which American Exceptionalism sits. The United States unique sense of itself depends on an ambiguous relationship to the past. History is affirmed, since it is America's unprecedented historical success that justifies the exceptionalism.

And if that child should ever get the chance to travel the world and someone should ask her where is she from, we believe that she should always be able to hold her head high with pride in her voice when she answers, "I am an American." That is the course we seek. That is the change we are calling for.

Being proud and being nationalistic are, for me, completely different things.

Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect.

There is a fuzzy but real distinction that can and I believe should be made, between patriotism, which is attachment to a way of life, and nationalism, which is the insistence that your way of life deserves to rule over other ways of life.

The homeland affects you directly: it affects your body; it affects the collective mind and the collective heart and the collective spirit.

On the same line of reasoning, if Australians were to be Australians, or rather if Australians were as separate from any other nation as Australia from any other land, there would be no jealousy between them on England's account.

I don't know whether it is fortunate or unfortunate, but I have no such thing as national pride. I don't feel proud that I am Iranian. I happen to be who I am.

France will always be France no matter what, but America involves striving toward an ideal.

I distinguish, between nationalism and patriotism.

I am often critical of Israel's policies when in the country, but then feel defensive of them when overseas.

There's a civic nationalism in Britain and dozens of other countries.