Memorial Day is national holiday to honor America’s fallen soldiers. Here are some of the best quotes and saying by presidents and others for the occasion.
“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” — President Harry S. Truman
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, is directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated.”— President George Washington
“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 success of liberty.” — President John F. Kennedy
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” — President Thomas Jefferson
“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
“We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart.” — Albert Einstein
“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
“The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” — Benjamin Disraeli
“Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.” — James Bryce
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.” — Thomas Campbell
“Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty!” — Lucy Larcom
“We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.” — Francis Walker
“So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So must you do to carry anything else to an end worth reaching. More than that, you must be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhaps a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out. All that is required of you is that you should go somewhither as hard as ever you can. The rest belongs to fate. One may fall-at the beginning of the charge or at the top of the earthworks; but in no other way can he reach the rewards of victory.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
“It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who gave us the freedom to demonstrate It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag. And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag.” — Father Dennis Edward O'Brien
“It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it.” — General Douglas MacArthur.
“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” — Maya Angelou
(*Memorial Day image via Shutterstock)
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