Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.

Nathan reduces “patriotism” to a kind of misplaced reverence: devotion to a patch of land (“real estate”) rather than to ethical commitments (“principles”). Calling it “arbitrary” suggests that national attachment is often contingent—based on accident of birth or boundary lines—yet treated as sacred. The sting of the aphorism is that it reframes patriotic fervor as a category error: confusing geography with virtue. Implicitly, Nathan argues that moral allegiance should be to justice, liberty, or truth, not to the state’s territory or symbols. The quote thus functions as a warning about nationalism’s ability to override conscience and to sanctify power simply because it is “ours.”