Nation

Nation

A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government (for example the inhabitants of a sovereign state) irrespective of their ethnic make-up. The word nation can more specifically refer to people of North American Indians, such as the Cherokee Nation that prefer this term over the contested term tribe.

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Famous quotes containing the word nation:

    “Think of what our Nation stands for,
    Books from Boots’ and country lanes,
    Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
    Democracy and proper drains.”
    —Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)

    “Every nation ... have their refinements and grossiertes.... There is a balance ... of good and bad every where; and nothing but the knowing it is so can emancipate one half of the world from the prepossessions which it holds against the other—that [was] the advantage of travel ... it taught us mutual toleration; and mutual toleration ... taught us mutual love.”
    —Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

    “Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American.... America is the only idealistic nation in the world.”
    —Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)