Junot Diaz Quotes

You have to love your country like an adult loves somebody, not like a child loves its mommy. And right-wing Republicans tend to love America like a child loves its mommy, where everything Mommy does is okay. But adult love means you're not in denial, and you want the loved one to be the best they can be.

There's an appeal to the American sense of exceptionalism, that we're morally superior, as way to not be self-critical. I think that's a bit dangerous.

You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it

I feel, if I criticize my country, it's not because I don't like my country. I love my country. That is my patriotism. I want to make it a better place for my children, for everyone. And if we don't look at what's in front of us, and we allow things to get out of hand because of other vested interests, then as citizens are not doing a good job.

If I criticize my country, it is indeed very painful for me. It doesn't make me happy. But, if I see something wrong, it becomes my duty to speak up.

What is your duty to a country? Do you follow it blindly? Or do you challenge your country to be better and stand up to the ideals that all men are created equal and everyone deserves equity, not just equality?

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?

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

Growing up in New York City, I was always encouraged to question authority, and I think I confused patriotism with jingoism.

Patriotism demands the ability to feel shame as much as to feel pride.

Personal responsibility is not only recognizing the errors of our ways. Personal responsibility lies in our willingness and ability to correct those errors individually and collectively.

In the ultimate analysis, all of us would have served Pakistan better if history and our future generations judge us positively.

I believe that a man can only be useful to his country when he can look at it clearly.

From those to whom much is given, much is expected. I have been given much - the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York, and the chance to lead this state. I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.

Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique.

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.

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.

Patriotism without criticism has no head; criticism without patriotism has no heart..

Saying my President “right or wrong” is like saying my driver “drunk or sober.”

I love my country too much to be a nationalist.

My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying, except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober.

It is true that [the] present-day young are idealistic. But theirs is the easy idealism that condemns abuses and pushes aside any thought that would reveal the difficulties and complexities inherent in righting wrongs. They are not willing to do the hard work by which alone the world can be improved. Hearing what they say, and seeing what they do, one suspects that one of the main functions of the young’s idealism is finding good reasons for doing bad things.

The best critics of America are Americans.

Patriotism does not mean giving blind loyalty and a blank check to George W. Bush.

If you love your country, then you need to be thinking a lot more critically about what justice.