Is this a proper attribute?

Factual Questions
1

I don’t even know if “attribute” is the correct word.

Thanks to a thread in GD, I found a great quote I’d like to use as a sig elsewhere.

“My country, right or wrong. If right, to be kept right, if wrong, to be put right.” – Senator Carl Schurz (R-MO 1869-75)

Carl Schurz said it, and Carl Schurz was a Senator from Missouri from 1869 to 1875. I don’t know when Carl Schurz said the quote though. Is it proper to attribute a quote to a Senator if he said it before or after he was a Senator? And, is that the right way to list his Senatorial…ness?

I don’t want to look as stupid as I feel right now if I’m going to be using it as a sig.

Thanks in advance.

(I had heard the “My country, right or wrong” before, but I never heard the rest of it until today.)

2

He said it while senator in 1872, in reply to another senator who said “My country right or wrong” without qualification. Details at http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html

Biography of Schurz: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000151

3

Thank you for that information. I especially like the second time he said it:

4

In case my previous reply wasn’t clear, the above senatorial exchange was not the origin of the phrase “My country, right or wrong.” It is usually attributed to Stephen Decatur, who said in 1816 “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”. See http://www.bartleby.com/66/47/15947.html

And then there’s Chesterton, who said ‘It is like saying “My mother, drunk or sober."’

5

And the word you’re looking for is attribution.

6

The OP reminded me of a story I read about a long time ago about some president (I forget which one) who supposedly was very proud of his ability to remember names. One time a man who had been his haberdasher was meeting him at someevents and tried to remind the president how he knew him. “Mr. President, I made your shirts --”

“Ah, Major Schurtz,” said the president," I’d have known you anywhere!"

Ba-dum bum. Thank you, folks, I’ll be here all week!

[/hijack]