Famous Quotes & Sayings

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can.

Benjamin Harrison

I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.

Bob Riley

I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism.

Bob Marley

Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.

William Shakespeare

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.

Blaise Pascal

We must kill them in war, just because they live beyond the river. If they lived on this side, we would be called murderers.

Chris Crutcher

I figure if Doc is right about the time I have left,I should wrap up my adolescence in the next few days, get into my early productive stages about the third week of school, go through my midlife crisis during Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, redouble my efforts at productivity and think about my legacy, say, Easter, and start cashing in my 401(k)s a couple weeks before Memorial Day.

Arthur Ashe

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

Albert Einstein

So long as there are men, there will be wars.

Jamie Lee Curtis

We sit at our consoles and play "Gears of War", but we don't see images from war. We don't turn on the news and see the evidence of war, the result of war. Maybe twice a year, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, we'll go out, we'll hang our flags, we'll try to inculcate in our children some sense of national honor for the fallen. But really, we don't see it. We just don't see the pictures. There's no drive-by on the freeway of death up close. So we don't really see bravery.

Calvin Coolidge

Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.

Barry Goldwater

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Clarence Darrow

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.

Courteney Cox

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all our service men and women past and present. You are not forgotten!

Andrew Bacevich

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.'s life is priceless. Don't believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier's life: I've been handed the check. It's roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

Douglas MacArthur

In war there is no substitute for victory.

Duke of Wellington

If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another.

Doc Hastings

137 years later, Memorial Day remains one of America's most cherished patriotic observances. The spirit of this day has not changed - it remains a day to honor those who died defending our freedom and democracy.

Desmond Tutu

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Danica Patrick

On Memorial Day, I was out floating on Lake Norman and came across Denny Hamlin. We struck up a conversation, and one of the first things we were talking about was how much it helped him when he started racing the Cup car and how much it helped his Nationwide program.

Daniel Webster

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

Cindy Sheehan

Go to a nearby military cemetery and look at the American flags stuck on each grave and think of the person buried there who was killed for global domination or for the blunders and egomania of our leadership. And remember, for every person buried there, 10 more loved that person and were shattered by the loss. Instead of saluting, softly say: 'I'm sorry.' ... We need to make Memorial Day a relic of the past.

Andy Rooney

In the United States alone, we spend seven times as much on war as on education. There's something wrong there. On this Memorial Day, we should certainly honor those who have died at war, but we should dedicate this day, not so much to their memory, but to the search for a way to end the idiocy of the wars that killed them.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

Billy Ray Cyrus

All gave some, Some gave all.

William Shakespeare

Then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

Kurt Angle

Canada is lacking two things. It's true. Don't make me say it again. The first is Olympic Heroes [...] The second thing that Canada is lacking is Memorial Day, which is today by the way, where we in the States celebrate our war heroes by having barbeques . And I realize here in Canada you can't have barbeques because you'd probably be attacked by a moose, or caribou, or even a grizzly.

Novalis

A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers; Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

They are dead; but they live in each Patriot's breast, And their names are engraven on honor's bright crest.

Some of the shells brought my heart into my mouth; lying there waiting for them was intolerable. I was sure I was going to be blown to pieces.

Henry Ward Beecher

Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?

Henry Ward Beecher

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.