Where we are is our heritage.

Our sovereignty does not come from Brussels—it is ours by right and by heritage.

One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland — and no other.

The life of a citizen is the property of his country.

Their homeland is the land of their ancestors. The homeland is not a hotel.

Our native soil draws all of us, by I know not what sweetness, and never allows us to forget.

Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.

Native Soil

There's
Nobody simpler than us, or with
more pride, or fewer tears.
(1922)

Our hearts don't wear it as an amulet,
it doesn't sob beneath the poet's hand,
nor irritate the wounds we can't forget
in our bitter sleep. It's not the Promised Land.
Our souls don't calculate its worth
as a commodity to be sold and bought;
sick, and poor, and silent on this earth,
often we don't give it a thought.
Yes, for us it's the dirt on our galoshes,
yes, for us it's the grit between our teeth.
Dust, and we grind and crumble and crush it,
the gentle and unimplicated earth.
But we'll lie in it, become its weeds and flowers,
so unembarrassedly we call it - ours.

Country comes before politics.

We shouldn't live as if [other worlds] mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.

Our country, our people, and our laws have to be our top priority.

"national soil" is a nonsensical idea. Places have history, but soil does not have nationality. Just as the air we breathe has been breathed by millions of others first and will go on to be breathed by millions more; just as water falls, travels, evaporates, circulates moisture around the planet-so the land itself migrates.

The rest of my life belongs to my culture, my language, my God and my nation.

The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives.