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Politics
Is Patriotism the Virtue of the Vicious?
Oscar Wilde said it, but should we agree with it?
Irish poet, playwright, novelist, and celebrated wit Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was a master of the bon mot. One hundred and twenty years after his death, his witty sayings are still being repeated and retweeted. Memes of his quotes litter social media.
I’ve been a fan of Wilde’s for decades, read his work, as well as books and articles about his life. So, it surprised me when I stumbled across this quote of his that I’d never seen before: “Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.”
I got to wondering what Wilde meant by this, and what significance it might have for us today.
As I do with most quotes I see on social media, I checked to make sure the attribution was accurate. It doesn’t appear in any of his written works, but his acquaintance A. H. Cooper-Prichard, author of the book Conversations with Oscar Wilde reports having heard Wilde say it.
The quote also appears in the book The Epigrams Of Oscar Wilde, which boasts an introduction by Wilde’s son Vyvyan Holland, so I’m pretty sure…
