Samuel Johnson and Ambrose Bierce on Patriotism

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

Samuel Johnson

“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 it is the first.”

Ambrose Bierce

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.