Careful Words

country (n.)

country (adv.)

country (adj.)

And for our country 't is a bliss to die.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book xv. Line 583.

  I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797): Letter to Matthew Smith.

Who dared to love their country, and be poor.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): On his Grotto at Twickenham.

  Had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius, I had rather eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Coriolanus. Act i. Sc. 3.

What a pity is it

That we can die but once to save our country!

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act iv. Sc. 4.

King Stephen was a worthy peere,

His breeches cost him but a croune;

He held them sixpence all too deere,

Therefore he call'd the taylor loune.

He was a wight of high renowne,

And those but of a low degree;

Itt's pride that putts the countrye doune,

Then take thine old cloake about thee.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): Take thy old Cloak about Thee.

  And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Gulliver's Travels. Part ii. Chap. vii. Voyage to Brobdingnag.

  'T was for the good of my country that I should be abroad.

George Farquhar (1678-1707): The Beaux' Stratagem. Act iii. Sc. 2.

God made the country, and man made the town.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 749.

  As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Old Testament: Proverbs xxv. 25.

There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin,

The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill;

For his country he sigh'd, when at twilight repairing

To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): The Exile of Erin.

I loved my country, and I hated him.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: The Vision of Judgment. lxxxiii.

Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,—

His first, best country ever is at home.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Traveller. Line 73.

England, with all thy faults I love thee still,

My country!

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book ii. The Timepiece. Line 206.

  Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): Notes on Virginia. Query xviii. Manners.

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,

But in another country, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flow'r, but not in this soil;

Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swain

Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 631.

True patriots all; for be it understood

We left our country for our country's good.

George Barrington (1755-1804): Prologue written for the Opening of the Play-house at New South Wales, Jan. 16, 1796.

A man he was to all the country dear,

And passing rich with forty pounds a year.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 141.

Herbs, and other country messes,

Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.

John Milton (1608-1674): L'Allegro. Line 85.

O Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save!

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Pleasures of Hope. Part i. Line 359.

  My country is the world; my countrymen are mankind.

William Lloyd Garrison (1804-1879): Prospectus of the Public Liberator, 1830.

My country, 't is of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing:

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountain-side

Let freedom ring.

Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895): National Hymn.

  Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852): Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 78.

  One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852): Speech, March 15, 1837. P. 349.

  Our Country,—whether bounded by the St. John's and the Sabine, or however otherwise bounded or described, and be the measurements more or less,—still our Country, to be cherished in all our hearts, to be defended by all our hands.

Robert C Winthrop (1809-1894): Toast at Faneuil Hall on the Fourth of July, 1845.

  Our country is the world; our countrymen are mankind.

William Lloyd Garrison (1804-1879): Motto of the Liberator, Vol. i. No. 1, 1831.

  Aristippus said that a wise man's country was the world.

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Aristippus. xiii.

  Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.

Stephen Decatur (1779-1820): Toast given at Norfolk, April, 1816.

  Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852): Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. i. p. 78.

  A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house.

New Testament: Matthew xiii. 57.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep:

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to,—'t is a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 1.

  Our Country,—whether bounded by the St. John's and the Sabine, or however otherwise bounded or described, and be the measurements more or less,—still our Country, to be cherished in all our hearts, to be defended by all our hands.

Robert C Winthrop (1809-1894): Toast at Faneuil Hall on the Fourth of July, 1845.

Curse all his virtues! they 've undone his country.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act iv. Sc. 4.

Thespis, the first professor of our art,

At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Prologue to Lee's Sophonisba.

He serves me most who serves his country best.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book x. Line 201.

Be England what she will,

With all her faults she is my country still.

Charles Churchill (1731-1764): The Farewell. Line 27.