my country, right or wrong

Etymology
Originally, 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, who in a speech in 1872 amended it as
 * “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

Phrase

 * 1) 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

“‘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