"It's easy to die for something you believe in... You know what's hard?"

"...Oh yeah, you have a code.  Duty, honor, country.  Semper Fi, all that good bullshit, true believer, patriotism, Fourth of July, apple pie, all that war movie crap from the forties...

Guess what, junior.  It's easy to die for something you believe in.  I've seen it ten thousand times and it ain't that fascinating.  You know what's hard?  Here's hard:  dying for a code you don't believe in.  That's what the samurai knew.  They died for the master they knew was corrupt, cowardly, venal, and pitiful.  They died anyway.  That was their code, and I'd say it was a hell of a lot tougher that that show tune you call patriotism...

Here's our code, asshole.  'These in the day when heaven was falling, when earth's foundations fled, followed their their mercenary calling, took their wages and are dead.'" - from Dead Zero, by Stephen Hunter.