National pride is the cheapest of all prides. It belongs to those who lack personal qualities of which they could be proud. If a person possesses real, personal merits and achievements, he already has enough reasons to be satisfied with himself and feels little need to seek pride outside himself — in belonging to a nation.
But the one who has nothing that could be called a virtue clings to the last thing accessible to everyone: the nation to which he belongs. He is ready to praise it excessively, so long as this allows him, at least indirectly, to elevate himself.
Such a feeling is found especially often among vulgar and narrow-minded people. A truly distinguished person is more likely to see the faults of his nation than its merits, for he is no longer bound to it by the mediocrity of thought and taste.
Arthur Schopenhauer