Pro patria mori

I have been watching much on the subject of America's next president. I took me down to the Strand to visit with my dear Nellie, and all at once recalled the good doctor's wise words. Some time later, in my own chambers and with a good pipe, I wondered at their authority.



AUTHOR: Samuel Johnson (1709–84)
QUOTATION: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
ATTRIBUTION: SAMUEL JOHNSON.—James Boswell, Life of Johnson, entry for Friday, April 7, 1775, p. 615 (1970).

“In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first.”—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, at entry for patriotism, The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce, p. 323 (1946, reprinted 1973).


SUBJECTS: Patriotism