The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #43581   Message #645214
Posted By: GUEST
08-Feb-02 - 07:47 AM
Thread Name: BS: Great Misquotations
Subject: RE: BS: Great Misquotations
CamiSu, sorry, your "My Country" quote is way off :-)

Stephem Decatur, one of the most celebrated Americans of his time, spoke these words as a toast, and what he actually said was;
"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong."

Since the words were spoken as a toast, it is inconceivable that Decatur would have said "My Country" rather than "Our Country".

Over the years this quotation has morphed into "My Country, right or wrong" and the process was probably accelerated by a play called "My country, right or wrong", based on the life of Stephen Decatur, which ran for twenty years or so, until quite recently.

Murray