Unsung Heroes Quotes

The unsung heroes of the civil rights movement were always the wives and the mothers. ~ Andrew Young

The real individuals of our time are the martyrs who have gone through infernos of suffering and degradation in their resistance to conquest and oppression, not the inflated personalities of popular culture, the conventional dignitaries. These unsung heroes consciously exposed their existence as individuals to the terroristic annihilation that others undergo unconsciously through the social process. The anonymous martyrs of the concentration camps are the symbols of the humanity that is striving to be born. The task of philosophy is to translate what they have done into language that will be heard, even though their finite voices have been silenced by tyranny. ~ Max Horkheimer

Since about 1980 Kenny Werner has been one of jazz's unsung heroes ~ Harvey Pekar

Every war has its martyrs - the unsung heroes who sometimes don't even know the rationale behind the war they are fighting. They fight because they are trained to, kill because they are told to and die because they are destined to. ~ Anurag Shourie

We nurture the candle flames that show the way ahead. We are guerrillas of the word, unsung heroes breathing softly on the embers of the human mind, so that they might re-ignite the hearths around which we once found safe haven. The book is the Light and the Life. ~ Mark Cantrell

My dream role is to portray someone like James Baldwin. I've always been a fan of his writing, and I feel like he's one of our unsung heroes. He's been pretty much forgotten, and I think he needs to be recognized. He had to go all the way to Europe to find recognition and acceptance, and I'd just like to bring him to the forefront. ~ Michael K. Williams

Here's to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us. ~ L.R. Knost

It is a fact of life that oversimplified accounts of the development of science are often necessary in its teaching. Most scientific progress is a messy, complex and slow process; only with the hindsight of an overall understanding of a phenomenon can a story be told pedagogically rather than chronologically. This necessitates the distilling of certain events and personalities from the melee: those who are deemed to have made the most important contributions. It is inevitable therefore that the many smaller or less important advances scattered randomly across hundreds of years of scientific history tend to be swept up like autumn leaves into neat piles, on top of which sit larger-than-life personalities credited with taking a discipline forward in a single jump. Sometimes this is perfectly valid, and one cannot deny the genius of an Aristotle, a Newton, a Darwin or an Einstein. But it often leaves behind forgotten geniuses and unsung heroes. ~ Jim Al-Khalili

Some things are too precious to forget, such as the lessons of history, and the deeds of unsung heroes, for if we stumble into the habit of forgetting, we lose both the value of life and the opportunity to become a wiser and stronger generation. ~ Sara Niles

Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn't give up, Ben; she's still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her. She's a father working while cancer eats away his insides, to bring home one more pay check. She's a twelve-year-old trying to mother her brothers and sisters because mama had to go to Heaven. She's a switchboard operator sticking to her post while smoke chokes her and fire cuts off her escape. She's all the unsung heroes who couldn't make it but never quit. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

The 2013 Boston Marathon was, for me, a milestone. A bucket list event that was supposed to be my last marathon until my next big milestone, turning 50. But I couldn't leave marathoning on a memory like that, so I am running this year to honor everyone in the running community and those unsung heroes from April 15, 2013. ~ Summer Sanders

I play beside one of the unsung heroes in David Vaughan. It's a privilege to play with him: he is breathtaking at times. ~ Charlie Adam

While campaigning, I got to know many high-school teachers, and let me say that the good ones are the unsung heroes of our society, and the bad ones are the gravediggers. ~ Gore Vidal

The past year's natural disasters have highlighted the invaluable contributions of volunteers in our communities. They have volunteered their time, energy and skills to save lives and to rebuild communities. In this they joined countless people around the world who volunteer every day in response to 'silent crises'. These often unsung heroes understand all too well that poverty, disease and famine are just as deadly and destructive as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. ~ Kofi Annan

Casting directors tend to be the unsung heroes in this business. ~ Brent Sexton

Interesting how some words that hold basically the same meaning can have different connotations. Take 'outlaw' and 'criminal' for instance.
'Outlaw' has an almost romantic, nostalgic meaning – you tend to think of Jesse James or Robin Hood when you think of outlaws. Billy the Kid has been described as both a 'notorious outlaw' and a 'beloved folk hero.'
'Criminal' however has a completely different connotation. We think of muggers, burglars, armed robbers etc.
Nobody really wants to have a 'criminal' in their family tree, but the idea of having 'outlaw blood' is exciting and glamorous ~ Karl Wiggins

Sometimes it is years before we can see who are the heroes in an affair and who are the victims. ~ Hilary Mantel

A nation without heroes is nothing. ~ Roberto Clemente

In God's eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity. ~ Rick Warren

To say that there is a case for heroes is not to say that there is a case for hero worship. The surrender of decision, the unquestioning submission to leadership, the prostration of the average man before the Great Man
these are the diseases of heroism, and they are fatal to human dignity. History amply shows that it is possible to have heroes without turning them into gods. And history shows, too, that when a society, in flight from hero worship, decides to do without great men at all, it gets into troubles of its own. ~ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Much has been written about Generation X and the films about it. Clerks is so utterly authentic that its heroes have never heard of their generation. When they think of "X," it's on the way to the video store. ~ Roger Ebert

You could paint my nob tartan and call it Throb Roy. ~ Timothy Lea

How often do our heroes stand still? It's hard to imagine Spock and Kirk landing on a planet and just relaxing for a month or two. Just hanging out has nothing to do with boldly going where no one has gone before. What makes us different from every other creature is that we go places, places we've not gone before. We do it willingly, and often. What makes our work and our life interesting is discovery, surprise, and the risk of exploration. ~ Seth Godin

They are beautiful, heart-rendingly beautiful, those wilds, with a quality of wide-eyed, unsung, innocent surrender that my lacquered, toy-bright Swiss villages and exhaustively lauded Alps no longer possess. Innumerable lovers have clipped and kissed on the trim turf of old-world mountainsides, on the innerspring moss, by a handy, hygienic rill, on rustic benches under the initialed oaks, and in so many cabanes in so so many beech forests. But in the Wilds of America the open-air lover will not find it easy to indulge in the most ancient of all crimes and pastimes. Poisonous plants burn his sweetheart's buttocks, nameless insects sting his; sharp items of the forest floor prick his knees, insects hers; and all around there abides a sustained rustle of potential snakes
que dis-je,of semi-extinct dragons!
while the crablike seeds of ferocious flowers cling, in a hideous green crust, to gartered black sock and sloppy white sock alike. ~ Vladimir Nabokov

Kitchen boys cost extra. A lot extra. They often turn out to be plucky little heroes with hearts of gold and a grim determination to see justice done. ~ Tom Angleberger

He who has perceived the material out of which the Promethean tragic writers prior to Euripides formed their heroes, and how remote from their purpose it was to bring the faithful mask of reality onto the stage, will also be aware of the utterly opposite tendency of Euripides. Through him the everyday man forced his way from the spectators' seats onto the stage; the mirror in which formerly only grand and bold traits were represented now showed the painful fidelity that conscientiously reproduces even the botched outlines of nature. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

True honor does not crave recognition, as true wisdom craves not publicity. The great heroes and the great men of wisdom walk silently through the bypaths of mankind. ~ Dagobert D. Runes

Men and women of God through the centuries have lived out this abiding truth. There are no heroes of the faith who did not live out this extravagant lavishing of their time on Jesus. When we examine their private lives, we see that they needed to abide for strength and for wisdom. They were addicted to extravagant time in the presence of Jesus because it gave them life and joy and was the only thing that fulfilled them. ~ Missionaries Who Love The Arab World

Heroes, it would seem, exist always and a certain worship of them. ~ Thomas Carlyle

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with. ~ Brodi Ashton

Dive for dreams
or a slogan may topple you
(trees are their roots
and wind is wind)
trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)
honour the past
but welcome the future
(and dance your death
away at this wedding)
never mind a world
with its villains or heroes
(for god likes girls
and tomorrow and the earth) ~ E. E. Cummings

With any good story, you need the adversary, the heroes and villains. You need a good mixture to make it work. ~ Phil Keoghan

Political history is far too criminal to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villians from fiction. ~ W. H. Auden

Most deserve to be forgotten. The heroes will always be remembered. The best." "The best and the worst." So one of us is like to live in song. "And a few who were a bit of both. Like him." He tapped the page he had been reading. "Who?" Ser Loras craned his head around to see. "Ten black pellets on a scarlet field. I do not know those arms." "They belonged to Criston Cole, who served the first Viserys and the second Aegon." Jaime closed the White Book. "They called him Kingmaker. ~ George R R Martin

My hero is Methuselah. He lived a thousand years. ~ Marty Rubin

For a novel need not be full of sorrow just because its heroes are suffering. ~ Orhan Pamuk

Historically, diversity has been a real issue for superhero comics - so we need to do something about it, crafting strong, modern heroes for a modern audience. ~ Adam Christopher

The selfless actions of these heroes have removed them from their families, businesses and homeland to fight, so that others may experience the liberty awaiting our troops upon safe return to America. ~ Jim Walsh

Heroes are dead. ~ Dan Sofer

As heroes, we should be secure in our glory and masculinity while recognizing the strength and nobility of women, as well! ~ K.M. Shea

For a hero is someone who is selfless. Think about it, friends. Superman, Luke Skywalker, and Captain America. They are helping others. They aren't only thinking for themselves. They are reaching out beyond themselves. ~ Mark Andrew Poe

We tend to think that people's true nature comes out at decisive moments, when the going gets tough, when they're pushed to the limit. The moment for heroes and saints. And yet, strange though it may seem, at such moments, human behavior is usually neither exemplary nor encouraging. The group who elbow their way to the head of the line where the concert tickets are being handed out; the spectators who flee the burning theater, trampling over the weaker members of the audience . . . ~ Rafael Chirbes

Most of all, I like the quiet, rounded tugs. They remind me of women. As I watch them work I see them as kindly, no-fuss boats which patiently tend much larger, grander and more important-looking ships. They make sure these ships get to the right place as the right time, shepherding them with a pull or a push as needed. Their power is not immediately obvious but it is there - inside. I watch them a lot and never tire of seeing their unsung but absolutely essential work. The silent strong women of the sea. ~ Hazel Hawke

There must be no fear, no begging, but demanding - demanding the Highest. The true devotees of the Mother are as hard, as adamant and as fearless as lions. They are not in the least upset if the whole universe suddenly crumbles into dust at their feet. Make Her listen to you. None of that cringing to Mother! Remember, She is all-powerful; She can make heroes out of stones. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Heroic poetry tends in its simplest form to be concerned with immediate events and local heroes. A certain length of tradition is required before the epic poem, telling the story of the hero, becomes current. Heroic poetry assumes that the audience knew what the outcome of the battle was, and is concerned with individual feats; the context is of little importance. Epic poems only become attractive as a form when the audience needs to be told who the heroes were. ~ Richard Barber

Because it is on the anvil of pain that the gods forge heroes. ~ C.L. Werner

There is no Clan in the forest so true or so brave. I respect and admire the other Clans, but my heart is here, with ThunderClan- the Clan of heroes, the Clan of compassion, the Clan of destiny. ~ Erin Hunter

Coach Hedge grumbled as he tended their wounds. How come I never get invited on these violent trips? ~ Rick Riordan

The real heroes are those who rebuild their lives using adversity as a stepping stone to greatness in the midst of the chaos life has thrown at them. ~ Nikki Rowe

I detest common heroes and moderate feelings, the sort that exist in real life ~ Gustave Flaubert

Dear comrade in arms,
after 15 years of battles, persecutions and sacrifices,
Romania's youth must know
that the hour of the Legionaire victory isn't far.

All of our enemies attempts will be crushed.
All plans of tempting us,
All attempts at buying our souls,
All attempts of seperating us,
and all treasons will fall to the ground.

Look at them, at your tyrants,
straight in their eyes.

Endure with submission all blows,
endure all pains,
whatever they may be,
because our sacrifices will be the iron foundation
made from broken bodies
and from tortured souls,
of our Victory.

Those, among us, who will fall
will have names and tombs of heroes,
and those who will kill us
will bear the names of traitors
and will be cursed from generation to generation.

From the depths
the Legionnaire rises victorious with his rock-like soul.

Those who think they can defeat him...
as well as those who think they can buy him...
will soon, but too late...
Come to the conclusion...
that they were wrong. ~ Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

I just feel like we're starting to interfere on a level that's sort of ... extreme." "But that's what heroes do. ~ Seanan McGuire

Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes - duct tape. ~ Rick Riordan

This book is cheerfully dedicated to those greatest and most heroic of all human endeavors, WAR and WARFARE; may they never cease to give us the pleasure, excitement and adrenal stimulation that we need, or provide us with the heroes, the presidents and leaders, the monuments and museums which we erect to them in the name of PEACE. ~ James Jones

Two hundred Romans, and no one's got a pen? Never mind!
He slung his M16 onto his back and pulled out a hand grenade. There were many screaming Romans. Then the hand grenade morphed into a ballpoint pen, and Mars began to write.
Frank looked at Percy with wide eyes. He mouthed: Can your sword do grenade form?
Percy mouthed back, No. Shut up. ~ Rick Riordan

With him died a story
That will not be retold:
How, forsaking glory,
Achilles grows old
While Hector dusts his trophies
Behind high walls-
For in his unsung strophes
Troy never falls ~ R.S. Gwynn

I just write the characters the way I see them. And maybe that's because I'm surrounded by the most amazing men,from my father to my husband to all of my brothers. They are true heroes! ~ Gena Showalter

Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole
of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great military emperor was not a washbuckler, and had little respect for tradition.

Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army, runs through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of their fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the years of universal carnage.
They were officers of cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems particularly appropriate.
It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable.

The names of the two officers were Feraud and D'Hubert, and they were both lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment. [The duel] ~ Joseph Conrad