Moreover, if you look for what forms the great and solid bases of all possible first or second order institutions, one will always find religion and patriotism. And if you reflect even more attentively, you will find these two things intermingled, for there is no true patriotism without religion. Patriotism only shines in centuries of belief, and it always declines and dies with religion. As soon as man separates himself from divinity, he vitiates himself and vitiates everything he touches. His action becomes base, and he acts only to destroy. In proportion as this powerful tie is weakened in a State, so all the conserving virtues are weakened: all character is degraded, and even good actions become petty. A murderous egoism relentlessly presses public spirit to retreat before it, like those enormous glaciers of the high Alps that can be seen advancing slowly and frighteningly on the domain of life and destroying useful vegetation in their path.
Joseph de Maistre