Gil Hahn

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You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders.  The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.  To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags——that is a loyalty of unreason, it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy, was invented by monarchy; ...more
Complete Works of Mark Twain
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