Happy Memorial Day Quotes

• How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

  Maya Angelou

  Strong Women, Veterans Day, Courage

  "Celebrating Our She-roes" by Jill S. Tietjen, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 10, 2014.

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• Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

  Billy Graham

  Motivational, Veterans Day, Memorial Day

  "A Time for Moral Courage". Reader's Digest, July 1964.

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• 

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

  Barry Goldwater

  Memorial Day, Freedom, Gay

  Speech accepting nomination for president at Republican National Convention, San Francisco, Cal., 16 July 1964

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• My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Country

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.

  William J. Clinton

  Memorial Day, Freedom, 4th Of July

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  I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

  Nathan Hale

  Inspirational, Life, Country

  Before being executed as a spy by the British, 22 September 1776, in Henry Phelps Johnston 'Nathan Hale, 1776' (1914) ch. 7.

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• The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.

  Thomas Campbell

  Uplifting, Memorial Day, Freedom

  Thomas Campbell, J. Logie Robertson (1884). “The Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell”, p.215, Ardent Media

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• A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

  Joseph Campbell

  Life, Inspiring, Veterans Day

  Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.151, Anchor

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• On Memorial Day, I don't want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets, who started preaching peace, men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live.

  Eric Burdon

  Memorial Day, Men, World

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  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.

  James Bryce

  Country, Memorial Day, Peace

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• Memorial Day this year is especially important as we are reminded almost daily of the great sacrifices that the men and women of the Armed Services make to defend our way of life.

  Robin Hayes

  Memorial Day, Sacrifice, Men

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

  William Shakespeare

  Memorial Day, Peace, War

  'Henry V' (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 1

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• Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall with our English dead.

  William Shakespeare

  Friendship, Memorial Day, Wall

  'Henry V' (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 1

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• All gave some, Some gave all.

  Billy Ray Cyrus

  Memorial Day, Honoring Memorial Day

  Song: Some Gave All, Album: Some Gave All, 1992

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• Green sods are all their monument; and yet it tells A nobler history than pillared piles, Or the eternal pyramids.

  James Gates Percival

  Memorial Day, Pyramids, Green

  James Gates Percival, Erasmus Darwin North (1859). “The poetical works of James Gates Percival”, p.286

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• Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself - for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held.

  Joshua Chamberlain

  Memorial Day, Courage, Hurt

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• But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for, Is their monument to-day, and for aye.

  Thomas Dunn English

  Country, Veterans Day, Memorial Day

  Thomas Dunn English (1885). “The Boy's Book of Battle-lyrics: A Collection of Verses Illustrating Some Notable Events in the History of the United States of America, from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Sectional War”

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• Spirit, that made those heroes dare
  To die, and leave their children free,
  Bid Time and Nature gently spare
  The shaft we raise to them and thee.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Uplifting, Memorial Day, Children

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Mikics (2012). “The Annotated Emerson”, p.521, Harvard University Press

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• Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay, but we can honor their sacrifice.

  Barack Obama

  Memorial Day, Hero, Sacrifice

  Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. May 30, 2011.

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• Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen, Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.

  Richard Watson Gilder

  Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Men

  Richard Watson Gilder (1900). “Five Books of Song”

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• Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays.... The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms.

  Thomas Bailey Aldrich

  Beautiful, Uplifting, Memorial Day

  Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1903). “Ponkapog Papers”

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• 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

  Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Military

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• True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going.

  Robert Reich

  Memorial Day, America, Remembrance

  Robert Reich (2017). “Economics in Wonderland: Robert Reich's Cartoon Guide to a Political World Gone Mad and Mean”, p.50, Fantagraphics Books

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• I would rather be remembered by a song than by a victory.

  Alexander Smith

  Memorial Day, Song, Singing

  Alexander Smith (1863). “Dreamthorp: A Book of Essays Written in the Country”, p.144

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• Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger.

  William Shakespeare

  Friendship, Memorial Day, Peace

  'Henry V' (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 1

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