Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Patriotism often fades once the threat that sparked it disappears.
In plain terms
Patriotism usually ends when the threat ends.
What can you take from it?
Be aware patriotism can be temporary.

Where it applies

  • political discussion
  • history
  • civic engagement

Putting it to work

  • check motivation behind patriotism
  • build lasting civic values

Questions to consider

  • Is your loyalty temporary or permanent?
  • What sustains national pride?

Another view

Patriotism can inspire long-term unity beyond immediate threats.

More from Denis Diderot

  1. Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.

    Permalink to quote #70
  2. The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals an…

    Permalink to quote #72
  3. In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others…

    Permalink to quote #69

Related quotes

  1. 'The European Union is a value- and not a religion-community'

    Joschka FischerJoschka Fischer quote #8
  2. One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and ach…

    Richard HofstadterRichard Hofstadter quote #9
  3. Thinking men and women the world over are beginning to realize that patriotism is too narrow and limited a conception to meet the necessities of our time.

    Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman quote #11