my country, right or wrong

English

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!”

Often attributed to Carl Schurz, who in a speech in 1872^[1] amended it as

“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

Phrase

my country, right or wrong

an expression of patriotism.

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 to attack such patriotism as unthinking:

"...that patriotism which shouts 'our Country right or wrong,' regardless alike of God and his eternal laws..." -- James Fenimore Cooper^[2]

“‘My country, right or wrong,’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’” — G. K. Chesterton^[3]

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
^ Jack Tier (1848), Chapter 10
^ The American Chesterton Society
The line is from Chesterton’s first book of essays, The Defendant (1901) from the chapter, “A Defence of Patriotism”

[1] 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

[2] Jack Tier (1848), Chapter 10

[3] The American Chesterton Society
The line is from Chesterton’s first book of essays, The Defendant (1901) from the chapter, “A Defence of Patriotism”

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