Patriots V

"I've seen a lot of patriots and they all died just like anybody else if it hurt bad enough and once they were dead their patriotism was only good for legends; it was bad for their prose and made them write bad poetry. If you are going to be a great patriot, i.e., loyal to any existing order of government (not one who wishes to destroy the existing for something better), you want to be killed early if your life and works won't stink."
--Ernest Hemingway, letter, January 12, 1936, published in "Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917 - 1961" (1981) edited by Carlos Baker