A man is not expected to love his country, lest he make an ass of himself. Yet our country, seen through the mists of smog, is curiously lovable, in somewhat the way an individual who has got himself into an unconscionable scrape seems lovable—or at least deserving of support.
ATTRIBUTION:
E.B. (Elwyn Brooks) White (1899–1985), U.S. author, editor. repr. in Writings from the New Yorker 1927-1976, ed. Rebecca M. Dale (1991). “A Busy Place,” New Yorker (July 5, 1976).
