Leo Tolstoy. (№ 419579)

Tell people that war is bad, they will laugh: who does not know this? Say that patriotism is bad, and most people will agree to this, but with a small proviso. - Yes, bad patriotism is bad, but there is another patriotism, the one we hold on to. - But what is this good patriotism, no one explains. If good patriotism consists in not being conquering, as many say, then any patriotism, if it is not conquering, then certainly retaining, that is, that people want to retain what was previously conquered, since there is no country that would not be based on conquest, and it is impossible to keep the conquered by other means than by the same ones by which something is conquered, that is, by violence, murder. If patriotism is not even retaining, then it is restorative - patriotism of the conquered, oppressed peoples - Armenians, Poles, Czechs, Irish, etc. And this patriotism is almost the worst, because it is the most embittered and requires the greatest violence.