„Great artists have no country.“

„I follow the works of Iranian artists even now, sometimes in Paris or in New York and I am happy Iranian artists are still great. Whether they are men or women, they have always been great. Despite all the pressure and censorship inside the country, they haven't been able to stop the creativity of our artists. Some have to work underground, like in cinema, and sometimes their work has political messages, but the number of our artists now has definitely grown in comparison to the past.“

—  Farah Pahlavi Empress of Iran 1938

Former queen of Iran on assembling Tehran's art collection http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/01/queen-iran-art-collection, The Guardian, (August 1, 2012).
Interviews

„Your engineers are your great artists and these highways are the most beautiful things I have seen in your beautiful country…Out of them and the machine will issue the style of tomorrow.“

—  Diego Rivera Mexican painter, muralist, Communist 1886 - 1957

On being enchanted by engineers in “Diego Rivera: A Man and His Murals” http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1999/2/99.02.06.x.html (Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute)

„Every artist's strictly illimitable country is himself.“

—  E.E. Cummings American poet 1894 - 1962

Re Ezra Pound (p. 69)
i : six nonlectures (1953)
Contesto: Every artist's strictly illimitable country is himself.
An artist who plays that country false has committed suicide; and even a good lawyer cannot kill the dead. But a human being who's true to himself — whoever himself may be — is immortal; and all the atomic bombs of all the antiartists in spacetime will never civilize immortality.

„Everyone loathes his own country and countrymen if he is any sort of artist.“

—  Lawrence Durrell British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer 1912 - 1990

Letter to Henry Miller, 1948

„Spain is a great country which make things and have Spanish people.“

—  Mariano Rajoy Spanish politician 1955

17 May, 2015
As President, 2015
Origine: Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2015/05/17/rajoy-espana-tiene-espanoles_n_7300938.html

„For a country to have a great writer … is like having another government. That’s why no régime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.“

—  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, libro The First Circle

Innokenty, in Ch. 57.
Variant translation: For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.
The First Circle (1968)

„It's a great country.“

—  Mike Murphy (political consultant) American political consultant 1962

As quoted in "Romney guru thrives in political 'show business'" https://web.archive.org/web/20060307070315/http://www.boston.com:80/news/politics/president/articles/2005/06/12/romney_guru_thrives_in_political_show_business/?page=full (12 June 2005), by Brian C. Mooney, The Boston Globe
2000s

„I owe a lot to the opportunities I have had. I think we have a great country, and the day that all people of all races have equal opportunity to be useful to their community, we're going to have a better country.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted in "Tech, Pirates Share Man of Year Honors; Jaycees Cite Carnegie Chief Dr. Stever, Give Clemente Sports, Lawrence Awards" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5L4bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XU8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7479%2C2960572 by Robert Johnson, in The Pittsburgh Press (Tuesday, January 24, 1967), p. 20
Other, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

„Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country.“

—  Shimon Peres Israeli politician, 8th prime minister and 9th president of Israel 1923 - 2016

As quoted in "Israel's Shimon Peres Calls Iran Weak", Comcast (29 November 2006) http://www.comcast.net/news/international/index.jsp?cat=INTERNATIONAL&fn=/2006/11/29/531290.html

„Great Iraqi men and women, members of the families of the martyrs, You have offered the homeland the best thing you could afford. Thus you have come to merit love and gratitude from all Iraqis and from its plains, mountains, skies and waters. You are good sons of this country. You have offered to the country great men who have averted harm from the country and paved its way to glory and greatness.“

—  Saddam Hussein Iraqi politician and President 1937 - 2006

„This is a time of great opportunity for our country.“

—  Al Gore 45th Vice President of the United States 1948

Quotes, IPI speech (2000)
Contesto: This is a time of great opportunity for our country. Our economy is the envy of the world. Living standards are rising — and the gap between the rich and the poor is closing for the first time in 20 years. America is a powerful engine for the global economy, because we have met our responsibility to balance our budget, to begin paying down our debt, and to embrace our role in supporting free markets and economic growth among all nations.

„I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.“

—  John F. Kennedy 35th president of the United States of America 1917 - 1963

1963, Speech at Amherst College
Contesto: The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime, it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths. Yet in retrospect, we see how the artist's fidelity has strengthened the fibre of our national life. If sometimes our great artist have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

„I think that we (Indo-Fijians) have a great future in this country if we can grab the opportunities that are ahead of us.“

—  Hari Punja Fijian businessman 1936

Interview with World Investment News http://www.winne.com/fiji/vi04.html, 21 January 2003 (excerpts)

„There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.“

—  George Eliot, libro Daniel Deronda

Book 3, Ch. 24
Origine: Daniel Deronda (1876)

„We are blessed with a great people, people who at every critical moment of choosing have put the interests of the country above their own.“

—  Mitt Romney American businessman and politician 1947

2016, Remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 race

„Every artist's strictly illimitable country is himself.
An artist who plays that country false has committed suicide; and even a good lawyer cannot kill the dead. But a human being who's true to himself — whoever himself may be — is immortal; and all the atomic bombs of all the antiartists in spacetime will never civilize immortality.“

—  E.E. Cummings American poet 1894 - 1962

Re Ezra Pound (p. 69)
i : six nonlectures (1953)

„I often thought this country might end up being a great country for my grandkids. Now I believe it can be a great one for my kids.“

—  Sean Pittman 1968

The Associated Press. Voices from the Inauguration. The Associated Press. 20 January, 2009. 9:24am. http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/20/inauguration-voices-012009/?zIndex=40067

„You can cover a great deal of country in books.“

—  Andrew Lang Scots poet, novelist and literary critic 1844 - 1912

„Music is the great cheer-up in the language of all countries.“

—  Clifford Odets Playwright, screenwriter, director, actor 1906 - 1963

Mr. Bonaparte, in Golden Boy (1937), Act I, sc. ii