Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Patriotism is loyalty to the nation itself, not necessarily to its leaders.
The quote by Theodore Roosevelt emphasizes the idea that true patriotism is about supporting the values and principles of one's country, rather than blindly backing the individuals in power. This perspective encourages citizens to critically evaluate their leaders and hold them accountable, reinforcing the notion that the country transcends any single figure or administration.
Themes
PatriotismLoyaltyCountryLeadersAccountability
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate discussing the responsibilities of citizens toward their government.
More from Theodore Roosevelt
All quotes βIt tires me to talk to rich men. You expect a man of millions, the head of a great industry, to be a man worthhearing; but as a rule they don't know anything outside their own business.
Theodore RooseveltRead
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Conservation means development as much as it does protection._x000D_ _x000D_ A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.
Theodore RooseveltRead
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Similar quotes
Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand.
Mother TeresaRead
For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell.
Orson Scott CardRead
When my father started talking about strip mining in the Appalachia back in the '60s, I remember a conversation I had with him where he said, you know, this is the richest state in the country if you look at the resources and the land, but the poorest people after the state of Mississippi: the 49th poorest people in the country.
Robert Kennedy, Jr.Read
All activities and events that a body is to go through are determined at the time of conception.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Because I have work to care about, it is possible that I may be less difficult to get along with than other women when the double chins start to form.
Gloria SteinemRead