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My country right or wrong; when right, to keep her right; when wrong, to put her right.
Carl Schurz
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the duty to support one's country both when it is right and wrong.

Carl Schurz's quote reflects a deep commitment to patriotism that acknowledges both the love and the critical responsibility a citizen has towards their nation. It articulates that true loyalty involves not just blind support but actively striving to maintain a country’s integrity when it is correct and working to correct its wrongdoings when necessary.

Themes

PatriotismCountryRightWrongResponsibility

In practice

Example use cases

During a national debate, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of holding our leaders accountable.

More from Carl Schurz

Tis not, 'my country right or wrong'; tis, 'my country, that which is right to be kept right, that which is wrong to be set right'
Carl SchurzRead
Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.
Carl SchurzRead

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