"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
Courage
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
- Ronald Reagan
Responsibility
"Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay."
- Barack Obama
Gratitude
"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
- John F. Kennedy
Responsibility
"Veterans are a symbol of what makes our nation great, and we must never forget all they have done to ensure our freedom."
- Rodney Frelinghuysen
Gratitude
"I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it's marked by the blood of those who died defending it."
- John Thune
Gratitude
"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Awareness
"America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels."
- Claudia Pemberton
Gratitude
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."
- Elmer Davis
Courage
"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
Gratitude
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
- Nathan Hale
Courage
"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
- Adlai E. Stevenson II
Courage
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die."
- G.K. Chesterton
Courage
"The patriot's blood is the seed of freedom's tree."
- Thomas Campbell
Courage
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived."
- George S. Patton
Gratitude
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."
- General Douglas MacArthur
Courage
"Let their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored."
- Daniel Webster
Gratitude
"Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops, and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well."
- Jennifer M. Granholm
Gratitude
"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."
- John Adams
Responsibility
"There is nothing nobler than risking your life for your country."
- Nick Lampson
Courage
"The willingness of America's veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude."
- Jeff Miller
Gratitude
"Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours."
- Wallace Bruce
Gratitude
"I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism."
- Bob Riley
Belief
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage
"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory there would be no civilization, no future."
- Elie Wiesel
Awareness
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
- Joseph Campbell
Courage
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Gratitude
"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust, their courage nerves a thousand living men."
- Minot J. Savage
Courage
"What I can do for my country, I am willing to do."
- Christopher Gadsen
Courage
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks."
- James Allen
Gratitude
"For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue."
- James A. Garfield
Courage
"Never was so much owed by so many few."
- Winston Churchill
Gratitude
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter the words, but to live by them."
- John F. Kennedy
Gratitude
"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Success
"Memorial Day isn't just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that's a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It's a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it."
- Pete Hegseth
Service
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
- Winston Churchill
Gratitude
"And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me."
- Lee Greenwood
Gratitude
"This is the day we pay homage to all those who didn’t come home. This is not Veterans Day, it’s not a celebration, it is a day of solemn contemplation over the cost of freedom."
- Tamra Bolton
Gratitude
"As America celebrates Memorial Day, we pay tribute to those who have given their lives in our nation's wars."
- John M. McHugh
Respect
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them."
- John F. Kennedy
Gratitude
"May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn't free."
- Sgt. Major Bill Paxton
Courage
"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future."
- Elie Wiesel
Awareness
"True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going."
- Robert Reich
Courage
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death."
- Sun Tzu
Leadership
"The legacy of heroes — the memory of a great name, and the inheritance of a great example."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Achievement
"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."
- George William Curtis
Belief
"Patriotism was a living fire of unquestioned belief and purpose."
- Frank Knox
Belief
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."
- G.K. Chesterton
Courage
"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
Peace
"The heroes of Flight 93 won the first battle in the War on Terror, and they should never be forgotten."
- Jim Ramstad
Gratitude
"In remembering those who lost their lives in the London attacks and the September 11th attacks we continue our commitment to fighting for freedom, democracy and justice."
- Doc Hastings
Hope
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
- Ronald Reagan
Courage
"Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong."
- James Bryce
Belief
"The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude."
- Jeff Miller
Gratitude
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
- George Washington
Integrity
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
- Mark Twain
Courage
"These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor - and a nation who has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror."
- Michael N. Castle
Gratitude
"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."
- Doc Hastings
Reflection
"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
Gratitude
"Think about the past and consider the sacrifices men and women in the military have made for us."
- Gary G. Wetzel
Gratitude
"Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion."
- Calvin Coolidge
Courage
"Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world. A veteran does not have that problem."
- Ronald Reagan
Achievement
"May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn’t free."
- Sgt. Maj. Bill Paxton
Gratitude
"He who is brave is free."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Courage
"This nation will remain the land of the free only as long as it is home of the brave."
- Elmer Davis
Courage
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."
- Bob Dylan
Courage
"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
Gratitude
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Courage
"Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost."
- Robert A. Heinlein
Courage
"Their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored."
- Daniel Webster
Gratitude
"Over all our happy country – over all our Nation spread, is a band of noble heroes– is our Army of the Dead."
- Will Carleton
Gratitude
"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."
- Arthur Ashe
Bravery
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Belief
"When duty calls, that is when character counts."
- William Safire
Integrity
"This is the day we pay homage to all those who didn't come home. This is not Veterans Day, it's not a celebration, it is a day of solemn contemplation over the cost of freedom."
- Tamra Bolton
Gratitude
"As we set today aside to honor and thank our veterans, let us be mindful that we should do this every day of the year and not just one."
- Beth Pennington
Gratitude
"We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Achievement
"The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s tree."
- Thomas Campbell
Courage
"Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country."
- George Washington
Service
"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."
- Thomas Campbell
Love
"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me."
- Lee Greenwood
Gratitude
"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws and asks no omen but his country's cause."
- Homer
Bravery
"I see that the old flagpole still stands. Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down."
- Douglas MacArthur
Courage
"The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten."
- Calvin Coolidge
Gratitude
"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes."
- Maya Angelou
Gratitude
"In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it."
- Barack Obama
Inspiration
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America."
- William J. Clinton
Optimism
"Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage
"The legacy of brave men and women who have fought and died for their country is the freedom we enjoy as Americans."
- Lucian Adams
Gratitude
"America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
- Harry S. Truman
Courage
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid."
- Col. David Hackworth
Courage
"Americans may not only pay tribute to our honored dead but also unite in prayer for success in our search for a just and lasting peace."
- John F. Kennedy
Gratitude
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."
- Abraham Lincoln
Responsibility
"The essence of patriotism lies in a willingness to sacrifice for one’s country, just as true greatness finds expression, not in blessings enjoyed, but in good bestowed."
- William Jennings Bryan
Courage
"The way to be patriotic in America is not only to love America, but to love the duty that lies nearest to our hand, and to know that in performing it we are serving our country."
- Woodrow Wilson
Responsibility
"Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality."
- Emily Dickinson
Love
"Freely we serve, because we freely love, as in our will to love or not; in this we stand or fall."
- John Milton
Service
"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul."
- Michel de Montaigne
Courage
"Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don’t think you can, hold on."
- James Frey
Courage
"Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed by the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Gratitude
"For let the gods so speed me, as I love the name of honor more than I fear death."
- Julius Cesar
Courage
"Courage is found in unlikely places."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Overcoming Obstacles
"Our own heart, and not other men's opinions, forms our true honor."
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Integrity
"America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor."
- Paul Tsongas
Motivation
"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men."
- Minot J. Savage
Courage
"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."
- William Faulkner
Motivation
"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."
- George Orwell
Courage
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."
- Benjamin Franklin
Motivation
"Here men endured that a nation might live."
- Herbert Hoover
Courage
"In the aftermath, we are because they were."
- RJ Heller
Connection to Earth
"The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression."
- W.E.B. Du Bois
Courage
"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!"
- Daniel Webster
Belief in Self
"The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage."
- Carrie Jones
Happiness
"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
- Winston Churchill
Hope
"One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one Nation, evermore!"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Connection to Earth
"Freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will to love or not; in this we stand or fall."
- John Milton
Service
"Liberty is the breath of life to nations."
- George Bernard Shaw
Belief
"Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing."
- Emma Donoghue
Courage
"For each thorn, there's a rosebud...For each twilight — a dawn...For each trial — the strength to carry on, For each storm cloud — a rainbow...For each shadow — the sun...For each parting — sweet memories when sorrow is done."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hope
"In valor there is hope."
- Tacitus
Hope
"I got to fight on till I leave here, and I hope I leave some footprints."
- Mattie Jones
Determination
"Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it."
- Mark Twain
Belief
"On what rests the hope of the republic? One country, one language, one flag!"
- Alexander Henry
Hope
"There are no points of the compass on the chart of true patriotism."
- Robert Charles Winthrop
Belief
"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
- James Baldwin
Integrity
"Over all our happy country - over all our Nation spread, Is a band of noble heroes - is our Army of the Dead."
- Will Carleton
Reflection
"There's intense national feeling in America that could be called patriotism."
- Michael Ignatieff
Belief
"The average American is nothing if not patriotic."
- Herbert Croly
Belief
"May Heaven be propitious, and smile on the cause of my country."
- Zebulon Pike
Faith
"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Achievement
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
Growth
"In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country, can change it."
- Barack Obama
Ambition
"I would rather be remembered by a song than by a victory."
- Alexander Smith
Reflection
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."
- Charles de Gaulle
Compassion
"A man is a patriot if his heart beats true to his country."
- Charles E. Jefferson
Belief
"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better."
- Albert Camus
Motivation
"Who sows virtue reaps honor."
- Leonardo da Vinci
Morality
"Heroism doesn't always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history."
- Mary Roach
Courage
"One lives in the hope of becoming a memory."
- Antonio Porchia
Hope
"Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own."
- Michelle Obama
Self-awareness
"Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves parade."
- Philip James Bailey
Reflection
"Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds its way back to you."
- Ranata Suzuki
Love
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death."
- Sun Tzu
Leadership
"So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good."
- Helen Keller
Contentment
"Heroes never die. They live on in the hearts and minds of those who would follow in their footsteps."
- Emily Potter
Courage
"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness."
Contribution
"The brave may fall, but never yield."
Courage
"Memorial Day: celebrate, honor, remember."
Gratitude
"We don't know them all, but we owe them all."
Gratitude
"If you want to thank a soldier, be the kind of American worth fighting for."
Responsibility
"Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it."
- Unknown
Gratitude
"May we never forget freedom isn't free."
Gratitude
"To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day."
Gratitude
"Home of the free, because of the brave."
Gratitude