Flag Waving Quotes

• All of us ... should remember that no amount of flag-waving, pledging allegiance, or fervent singing of the national anthem is evidence that we are patriotic in the real sense of the word. ... Outward behavior, while important, is not the real measure of a man's patriotism.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Real, Patriotic, Men

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  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.

  James Bryce

  Country, Memorial Day, Peace

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• I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag waving patriot.

  John Wayne

  Flags, Honest, Patriot

  John Wayne, Carol Lea Mueller (2007). “The Quotable John Wayne: The Grit and Wisdom of an American Icon”, p.11, Taylor Trade Publications

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• Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity.

  James Bryce

  Country, Peace, War

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• My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let's all get on the Jesus train and ride out of hell. I'm not that kind of guy. It's an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it's not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.

  Billy Corgan

  Jesus, Life Is Good, Guy

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• White collar conservative flashin' down the street,
  Pointing that plastic finger at me,
  Hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
  But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high.

  Jimi Hendrix

  Freedom, White, Flags

  "Song: 'If 6 Was 9'". 1967.

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• I pledge impertinence to the flag waving, of the unindicted co-conspirators of America, and to the republicans for which I can't stand, one abomination, underhanded fraud, indefensible, with Liberty and Justice.. Forget it.

  Matt Groening

  America, Justice, Liberty

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• War is not about flag-waving and patriotism. War is about killing and death.

  Chris Hedges

  War, Flags, Killing

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• I will not support putting American soldiers into Iraq as an occupying force. I don't think that is in our interest, and I don't think that would be smart to do. In fact, I think that would be a big red flag waving for ISIS to reconstitute itself.

  Hillary Clinton

  Smart, Thinking, Isis

  The third presidential debate between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, www.nytimes.com. October 20, 2016.

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• America has an almost obscene infatuation with itself. Has there ever been a big, powerful country that is as patriotic as America? And patriotic in the tinniest way, with so much flag waving? You'd really think we were some poor little republic, and that if one person lost his religion for one hour, the whole thing would crumble. America is the real religion in this country.

  Norman Mailer

  Country, Powerful, Real

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• It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving picaninnies; and one can imagine that Blair, twice victor abroad but enmired at home, is similarly seduced by foreign politeness. They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in Watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.

  Boris Johnson

  Queens, Cheer, Fall

  Daily Telegraph, January 10, 2002.

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• Some flag waving is good, a lot of flag waving is tolerable, incessant flag waving is crazy and dangerous and easily manipulated by the war party to get people bubbling at the mouth in fear and rage.

  Nicholas von Hoffman

  Crazy, War, Party

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• If we were to sit and discuss abortion and legalizing marijuana and gay marriage and all those things, you'd be surprised where you'd see me on the side of some of that stuff. People get their opinions - as soon as you're a real flag-waving patriot, then all of a sudden you're a conservative.

  Toby Keith

  Real, Gay, Marijuana

  "Q&A: The uncut Toby Keith interview". Interview with Ben Wener, www.ocregister.com. August 30, 2007.

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• The infernal flag-waving after 9/11 nearly drove liberals out of their gourds. For the left, 'flag-waving' is an epithet.

  Ann Coulter

  Gourds, Flags, Epithet

  Ann Coulter (2003). “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right”, p.5, Crown Forum

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• The Olympic games should be a matter between individual athletes and the gods. Noisy flag-waving dishonors gods and men alike.

  Dave Beard

  Athlete, Men, Games

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• There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

  Walt Kelly

  Hands, Enemy, Needs

  Walt Kelly (1974). “Pogo revisited: containing the complete volumes of The Pogo poop book, Instant Pogo [and] The Jack Acid Society black book”, Simon & Schuster

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• Children model the behavior of adults, on whatever scale is available to them. Ours are growing up in a nation whose most important, influential men - from presidents to the coolest film characters - solve problems by killing people. ... We have taught our children in a thousand ways, sometimes with flag-waving and sometimes with a laugh track, that the bad guy deserves to die.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Children, Growing Up, Character

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• High national emotions are permissible when a soccer team is playing precisely because they are impermissible at most other times. There aren't, simply, many other places where you can sing your national anthem until you lose your voice without causing a riot. In the context of soccer, flag-waving nationalism - even chauvinistic, anti-foreigner, flag-waving nationalism - is acceptable in Britain.

  Anne Applebaum

  Soccer, Football, Team

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• Some of the more fatuous flag-waving Americans are in danger of forgetting that you can't extract gratitude as you would extract a tooth; that unless friendship is freely given, it means nothing and less than nothing.

  Max Lerner

  Gratitude, Mean, Teeth

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