my country, right or wrong
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Originally Stephen Decatur, in an after-dinner toast of 1816–1820:
- “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!”
Later stated by, and often attributed to, Carl Schurz, 1872.[1]
- “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
[edit] Phrase
my country, right or wrong
- an expression of patriotism.
[edit] Usage notes
Frequently used either as an expression of jingoism (extreme patriotism), in the sense “I will stand by my country whether it be right or wrong”, or as a straw man to attack such patriotism as unthinking.
[edit] References
- ^ Schurz, Carl, remarks in the Senate, February 29, 1872, The Congressional Globe, vol. 45, p. 1287, cited in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations., # 1641
