Walter Isaacson Quotes

I love Canada. I am from Canada. I will bash the Canadian government but never Canada.

Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government.

We simply cannot afford to allow our government to go unscrutinised, most of all in amid the bleak seeming imperatives of the 'war on terror'.

When the state does go to war ... so too should the nation.

I love my country, not my government.

After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power - the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government - for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism.

Many senior government officials, CIA, FBI, counter terrorism officials - when they look back at the decade, they effectively conclude that the United States overreacted after 9/11.

The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the state governments, in times of peace and security.

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.

Despite failing to get bin Laden, the U.S. government and media portrayed the early Afghanistan war as a great victory.

The young in this country, and you fellows are young by my reckoning, have a right to be concerned about the course that our government, the Federal Government, is taking under President Bush.

The 'Cold War' impinged on the daily lives of Americans. The wars after 11 September 2001 have been fought without the general American population having to make any sacrifices. It goes on, and so do we.

Think of what happened after 9/11, the minute before there was any assessment, there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq, and so the war drums beat.

When a government goes to war, particularly a democracy, it is the most solemn and awesome responsibility of our leaders - to decide to send our kids to go off and kill and die for us.

I love my country but fear my government.

Checks and balances, in time of war, are more important than ever.

I feel sorry for those who measure their patriotism by how often and how viciously they can criticize our government.

For 18 months after September 11, it was unpatriotic to criticize the President. That is how he was able to lead us into the War in Iraq. In normal times the proposed war would never have withstood the criticism.

The most patriotic and American thing you can do is to distrust your government

There can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government ... too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think that it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there is such criticism. If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned, because the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy, and will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur.

War is the national industry of Germany [Prussia].

It’s almost impossible to love your country and hate your government.

Being a patriot doesn't mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen, from the violations of and encroachments of adversaries. And those adversaries don't have to be foreign countries.

I call President Bush a terrorist. I call those around him terrorists as well: Condoleezza Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales in the Justice Department, and certainly Cheney.