Adam Michnik Quotes

I have a responsibility to devote my energy to my country and my people.

Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique.

What I can do for my country, I am willing to do.

America is not static. America is striving. And sometimes, America requires critique. Jingoism is an avoidance of realism. You can simultaneously love and be disappointed in the object of your love, wanting it to be better than it is. In fact, that is a measure of love. Honest critique is a pillar of patriotism.

Our definition of patriotism is often too narrow. Shall the lover of his country measure his loyalty only by his service as a soldier? No! Patriotism calls for the faithful and conscientious performance of all of the duties of citizenship, in small matters as well as great, at home as well as upon the tented field

When I hear of nationalism in my country today from the youngsters, I want to sit them down and tell them that flags and songs are not nationalism. Stopping at the traffic signal, opening the door for a lady, doing something for your country is nationalism.

To work for the good of our country is not a shallow thing.

The best critics of America are Americans.

The way to be patriotic in America is not only to love America, but to love the duty that lies nearest to our hand, and to know that in performing it we are serving our country.

I want to be proud of this country [the USA], but when aspects of our policy don't align with my ethics, I want to protest them and try to change them. Being complicit because it's the home team is nationalism, not patriotism.

I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?

Clarity and consistency are not enough: the quest for truth requires humility and effort.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

We should all spend some time of our life doing service to our country. To me, I would give up a couple of years.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

America needs young people to be inspired to choose sacrifice over greed.

My main ambition is to be of use to my country and my people.

This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms.

I strive to be the best possible president that I can be to work for all of you and to represent out country and all Singaporeans.

There has never been any country at every moment so virtuous and so wise that it has not sometimes needed to be saved from itself.

An intelligent and conscientious opposition is a part of loyalty to country.

Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.

Let us abandon this narrow conception of patriotism, which consists of the doctrine, "My country right or wrong." There is a nobler doctrine, ... "My country must always be right.

Doubt is the origin of wisdom.

I'm a simple small 'c' conservative who believes in public service, serving others, and doing a good job for my country.