# National Loyalty Gives Greatness a Cause Larger Than the Self by Marco Rubio > “The men of ancient Greece knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else. They believed fiercely in the ideal of the great man: the exceptional individual who obtains immortality through his own deeds. But they believed that glory and fame were won through striving, sacrificing, and achieving greatly for something larger than yourself. The recurring hero of the ancient Greek world was the man willing to pay any cost for a cause worthy of his loyalty.” > **— Marco Rubio**, *Remarks at the Pnyx, Athens, October 7, 2026, 17:46–18:37* ## Sources and Context - **Primary recording:** [U.S. Department of State recording, 17:46–18:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOv1DpML7I4&t=1066s), October 7, 2026. - **Official transcript:** [U.S. Department of State — Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks](https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesman/2026/10/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-remarks), October 7, 2026. The State Department page returned a technical-difficulties notice during the source-research pass; the audiovisual recording remains the controlling primary source. - **Prepared source record:** [[research/Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks from the Acropolis in Athens|Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks from the Acropolis in Athens]] preserves the complete spoken transcript, the attendance record, the source architecture, and this statement's position in the full address. - **Editorial record:** The readable quotation is a journalistic-clean rendering of the spoken delivery: punctuation, obvious caption defects, false starts, and non-substantive repetitions are normalized without changing the proposition. The complete uncompressed delivery remains available in the prepared source record for direct comparison. - **Context:** The complete unit resolves the apparent tension between individual greatness and national loyalty. Achievement becomes durable when personal excellence serves an inheritance, duty, or cause larger than personal acclaim. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Neo-Westernism|Neo-Westernism]] - [[wiki/Marco Rubio|Marco Rubio]] - [[wiki/Western Human|Western Human]] - [[wiki/Thumos|Thumos]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “The men of ancient Greece knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else. They believed fiercely in the ideal of the great man: the exceptional individual who obtains immortality through his own deeds. But they believed that glory and fame were won through striving, sacrificing, and achieving greatly for something larger than yourself. The recurring hero of the ancient Greek world was the man willing to pay any cost for a cause worthy of his loyalty.” — Marco Rubio, Remarks at the Pnyx, Athens, October 7, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-marco-rubio-national-loyalty-greater-cause ```