It was an act of patriotism when we worked to pass a law allowing the prosecution of federal hate crimes in the name of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd.

The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.

You want to know whether we’re better off? I’ve got a little bumper sticker for you: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive! Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!

Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.

If you don’t know how great this country is, I know someone who does; Russia.

There is no room for military people, including our veterans, to see themselves as victims, even if so many of our countrymen are prone to relish that role.

Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass the test.

The American people are bigger than any president. I suppose I have faith in my country and in what it is founded on and the values we hold dear.

No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.

I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together: black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; young, old; gay, straight; men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance under the same proud flag to this big, bold country that we love. That’s what I see. That’s the America I know!

There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity – the law of nature and of nations.

Modesty forbids what the law does not.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I suppose, in a way, this has become part of my soul. It is a symbol of my life. Whatever I have done that really matters, I’ve done wearing it. When the time comes, it will be in this that I journey forth. What greater honor could come to an American, and a soldier?

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.

How accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.

There is no place, no country, more compassionate more generous more accepting and more welcoming than the United States of America.

The safety of the people shall be the highest law.

The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law.

I carry the flag of Ireland all the time. I want to represent my country.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

Ladies and gentlemen, god bless America – land of the free, home of the brave.

We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line. Don’t forget it.

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism.

How wonderful it is to be an American. We have known the best of times and the worst of times.

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.

Just like the Alamo, somebody damn well needed to go to their aid. Well, by God, I’m going to Viet Nam’s aid!

Law is mind without reason.

Whoever won’t fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.

I like America, just as everybody else does. I love America, I gotta say that. But America will be judged.

There’s no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country.

It is rather for us here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

I do hope that some of my dissents will one day be the law.

It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.

Taste cannot be controlled by law.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

The Bill of Rights is not an a la carte menu.

It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.

We can have no ’50-50′ allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.

I am well aware that there are prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union, including some who have said they have chosen to resist the law because of religious reasons.

Gold is good in its place; but loving, brave, patriotic men are better than gold.

Freedom is a man’s natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended and brought to fair trial. I stress ‚suspects.‘