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

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

True patriotism is better than the wrong kind of piety.

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

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

Where liberty is, there is my country.

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.

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 hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.

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

Loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

Here at home, when Americans were standing in long lines to give blood after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we squandered an obvious opportunity to make service a noble cause again, and rekindle an American spirit of community.

Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.

No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

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.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.

I think Americans are very patriotic.

So long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve served us – because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they need when they come home.

When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.

Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

I think I’m one of the most patriotic people that I’ve ever encountered in America. I consider myself a bedrock patriot. I participate very actively in local politics, because my voice might be worthwhile. I participate in a meaningful way – not by donations; I work at it.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the angels of our nature.

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

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.

One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

One thing I just want to say to the military families – while you might not wear a uniform, I know – we all know, the nation knows – that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that.

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

When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It’s self-defense. It’s patriotism.

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

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!

To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our 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.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

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.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.

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!

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

A man who says that no patriot should attack the war until it is over… is saying no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen.

Unfortunately, after Sept. 11, there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous.

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

I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else – I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.

Patriotism is usually stronger than class hatred, and always stronger than internationalism.

I will never relent in defending America – whatever it takes.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

I was a Marine for 41 years, and it wasn’t long enough. We enjoy putting on that uniform.

We didn’t crumble after 9/11. We didn’t falter after the Boston Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.