Military Memorial Quotes

• Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Memorial Day, Freedom

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave.

  Joseph Rodman Drake

  Inspiring, Country, Memorial Day

  65 Copy quote

• A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, War, Military

  86 Copy quote

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

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Uplifting, Memorial Day, Names

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Illustrated)”, p.39, Delphi Classics

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• The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.

  Minot Judson Savage

  Uplifting, Death, Memorial Day

  Minot Judson Savage (1884). “Poems of modern thought”

  87 Copy quote

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  It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

  Norman Schwarzkopf

  Inspiring, Courage, Veterans Day

  Norman Schwarzkopf (2010). “It Doesn't Take a Hero: The Autobiography of General Norman Schwarzkopf”, p.13, Bantam

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  The willingness of America's veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.

  Jeff Miller

  Thanksgiving, Country, Gratitude

  60 Copy quote

• The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.

  George Washington

  Veterans Day, Military, War

  65 Copy quote

• It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

  Zell Miller

  Veterans Day, Military, Army

  2004 Republican National Convention Address, delivered 1 September 2004, Madison Square Garden, New York

  13 Copy quote

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  I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.

  Douglas MacArthur

  Military, Gun, New World Order

  Douglas MacArthur's speech to the Texas Legislature in Austin (June 13, 1951) as quoted in "General MacArthur Speeches and Reports 1908-1964" edited by Edward T. Imparato (p. 175), June 14, 2000.

  560 Copy quote

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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

  149 Copy quote

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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.

  150 Copy quote

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• Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours.

  Wallace Bruce Matthews Carruthers

  Inspiring, Memorial Day, Memories

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  55 Copy quote

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• The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the Nation all the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Country, Memorial Day

  "The Czar's Soliloquy". Essay by Mark Twain, first published in The North American Review, No. DLXXX (p. 324), March 1905.

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• The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Inspiring, Sports, Memorial Day

  63 Copy quote

• To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

  George Washington

  Inspirational, Leadership, Motivation

  1790 First Annual Address, 8 Jan.

  168 Copy quote

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• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

  Desmond Tutu

  Memorial Day, Peace, Freedom

  64 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• They fell, but o'er their glorious grave Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save.

  Francis Marion Crawford

  Memorial Day, Loss, Causes

  20 Copy quote

• They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Memorial Day, American Veterans, Clouds

  8 Copy quote
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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.

  178 Copy quote

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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

  208 Copy quote

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• I consider it an indispensible duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God and those who have the superintendence of them into his Holy keeping.

  George Washington

  Country, Military, Lasts

  George Washington (1838). “Monuments of Washington's patriotism: containing a fac simile of his publick accounts kept during the revolutionary war; and some of the documents connected with his military command and civil administration; together with an eulogium on the character of Washington, by W. Jackson”, p.9

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• There are some who've forgotten why we have a military. It's not to promote war, it's to be prepared for peace.

  Ronald Reagan

  Military, War, Forgotten

  Ronald Reagan (2004). “Speaking My Mind: Selected Speeches”, p.207, Simon and Schuster

  10 Copy quote

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