Honoring Memorial Day Quotes

All gave some, Some gave all. ~ Billy Ray Cyrus

Knights of the spirit; warriors in the cause Of justice absolute 'twixt man and man. ~ Richard Watson Gilder

Today, the men from that meeting are frozen in photographs.
They are immortal, or rather: they must never be forgotten.
The villa has become a place of memorial.
I visited it one gloriously sunny day in July 2004.
You can walk through the horror.
The long table used for the meeting is frightening.
As if the objects had taken part in the crime.
The place with forever be charged with terror.
So this is what it means, when a chill runs down your spine.
I had never understood that expression before.
The physical manifestation of an invisible icy finger.
Tracing the vertebrae in your back. ~ David Foenkinos

We must be prepared to make the same heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. ~ Albert Einstein

We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free. ~ Ronald Reagan

Outwardly we might say we believe that liberty is a gift. But our belief that we have a 'right' to that 'gift' is the thing that's certain to kill it. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield. ~ Philip Freneau

Today, the United States stands as a beacon of liberty and democratic strength before the community of nations. We are resolved to stand firm against those who would destroy the freedoms we cherish. We are determined to achieve an enduring peace - a peace with liberty and with honor. This determination, this resolve, is the highest tribute we can pay to the many who have fallen in the service of our Nation. ~ Ronald Reagan

These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea. ~ Schuyler Colfax

To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something. ~ Criss Jami

Every star in the universe represents a soul of a soldier who gave his life for the life you live today. ~ Giovannie De Sadeleer

Lindbergh expressed these thoughts in a splendid speech while accepting the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy at the Washington Aero Club in January 1946. Titling his speech "Honoring the Wright Brothers," he took as his theme "the way in which science was divorcing man from his old sense of independence and moral values."16 ~ Winston Groom

There is nothing nobler than risking your life for your country. ~ Nick Lampson

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

I am going to take something I learned over in Israel. Their Independence Day is preceded the 24 hours before with Memorial Day, so it gives them a chance to serve and reflect and then celebrate. I am going to try to start that tradition here in America. ~ Glenn Beck

The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we - in a less final, less heroic way - be willing to give of ourselves. ~ Ronald Reagan

Their own souls rose and cried
Alarum when they heard the sudden wail
Of stricken freedom and along the gale
Saw her eternal banner quivering wide. ~ John Le Gay Brereton

If I have become so pathetically dulled that I hold freedom as my right and the privileges of liberty as my due, I can stand beside the stilled graves of a thousand soldiers fallen in defense of freedom and not feel a thing. And my most solemn prayer is that I will never be this. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. ~ John McCrae

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes. ~ Carl Sandburg

It is important that we remember.
It is vital we do more than just remember. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live. ~ Douglas MacArthur

I play an 89-year-old man whose wife has Alzheimer's in a movie called 'Still.' I play a World War II veteran, I acted with my son and it's called 'Memorial Day.' ~ James Cromwell

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

The Los Angeles parade would begin in Griffith Park, where a large crowd would assemble and the speeches would be given. Every politician of consequence would be there. There was no way they would miss a chance to publicly praise the troops and honor those who had lost their lives in service.
Some of the tributes would be sincere and heartfelt, and some less so. But participating in the event, vowing undying support for the U.S. military, was an absolute must to maintain political viability. It was okay to vote to cut funds for veterans' healthcare, but don't dare miss a chance to jump on the Memorial Day bandwagon. ~ David Rosenfelt

Patriotism was a living fire of unquestioned belief and purpose. ~ Frank Knox

The effects of loss are acute, and unique to each individual. Not everyone mourns in the same way, but everyone mourns. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

There are no points of the compass on the chart of true patriotism. ~ Robert Charles Winthrop

Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers of places like Arlington National Cemetery. And may God keep us ever grateful. ~ George W. Bush

I'll be careful."
He looked at her.
"I promise."
"Call me if you need me."
"Cosmo."
He turned to look at her.
"It does go both ways. I don't want to get a call from Tom Paoletti and Decker every Memorial Day. ~ Suzanne Brockmann

My name is Natasha Trethewey, and I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1966, exactly 100 years to the day that Mississippi celebrated the first Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1866. ~ Natasha Trethewey

The real war will never get in the books. ~ Walt Whitman

Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty! ~ Lucy Larcom

On this day, take time to remember those who have fallen. But on every day after, do more; put the freedoms they died for to greater and nobler uses. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

We almost began a perfect conversation, F. said as he turned on the six o'clock news. He turned the radio
very loud and began to shout wildly against the voice of the commentator, who was reciting a list of disasters.
Sail on, sail on, O Ship of State, auto accidents, births, Berlin, cures for cancer! Listen, my friend, listen to the
present, the right now, it's all around us, painted like a target, red, white, and blue. Sail into the target like a
dart, a fluke bull's eye in a dirty pub. Empty your memory and listen to the fire around you. Don't forget your
memory, let it exist somewhere precious in all the colors that it needs but somewhere else, hoist your memory
on the Ship of State like a pirate's sail, and aim yourself at the tinkly present. Do you know how to do this?
Do you know how to see the akropolis like the Indians did who never even had one? Fuck a saint, that's how,
find a little saint and fuck her over and over in some pleasant part of heaven, get right into her plastic altar,
dwell in her silver medal, fuck her until she tinkles like a souvenir music box, until the memorial lights go on
for free, find a little saintly faker like Teresa or Catherine Tekakwitha or Lesbia, whom prick never knew but
who lay around all day in a chocolate poem, find one of these quaint impossible cunts and fuck her for your
life, coming all over the sky, fuck her on the moon with a steel hourglass up your hole, get tangled ~ Leonard Cohen