Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Nation
Nations, like individuals, are powerful in the degree that they command the sympathies of their neighbors.
—C. N. Bovée
I have seen some nations like overloaded asses,
Kick off their burdens, meaning the higher classes.
—Lord Byron
Every nation seems to me like a plant, of which the lower class is the root, the middle class the stem, and the upper class the flower.
—Pierre de Coulevain
Nations, like individuals, live and die; but civilization cannot die.
—Giuseppe Mazzini
A warring nation, like an orator, should know when to stop.
—New Republic
Like men, nations are purified and strengthened by trials.
—Samuel Smiles