Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sin or Mir wölle bleiwe wat mir sin (Luxembourgish for "We want to remain what we are") is the national motto of Luxembourg. It refers to the ambition of the Luxembourgish people to remain separate from, and independent of, those neighbouring countries around it that have traditionally dominated it politically and militarily: Belgium, France, and Germany.
The phrase's origin can be traced back to De Feierwon, the Luxembourg national hymn of 1859; originally written to pay hommage to the first international (cross-border) railroad in the country, the hymn's chorus read:
Kommt hier âus Frankräich, Belgie, Preisen,
Mir wëlle Iech ons Hemécht weisen.
Frot Dir no all Seiten hin,
We mir eso zefriede sin.[1][? 1]
In 1871, an anonymous poet, only known as M Tout-le-monde, changed the last two lines of this chorus to read
Mir welle jo keng Preise gin,
Mir welle bleiwe wat mir sin![1][? 2]
Due to its political incorrectness at the time, the duke forbade public singing of the hymn;[1] nonetheless, the famous line survived.