Dwight D. Eisenhower
Military Leader, Politician
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
Memorial Day quotes
Memorial Day
223 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Bob Marley
Musician, Singer-Songwriter
"Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life."
George Orwell
Writer, Journalist
"All that was required of them (i.e. the brain-washed masses) was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice."
Elijah Muhammad
Religious Leader
"Four things support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valor of the brave"
Billy Graham
Evangelist, Author
"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."
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Topics related to Memorial Day
Browse quotes that often appear alongside memorial day — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Memorial Day quotes (page 1 of 12)
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"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."
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"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
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"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."
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"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
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"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
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"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."
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"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul."
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"Freedom lies in being bold."
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"As a 22-year Army Veteran who served in Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, and as a Civilian Advisor to the Afghan Army in Operation Enduring Freedom, I understand both the gravity of giving the order, and the challenge of carrying it out."
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"Caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for."
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"Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong."
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"I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
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"Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace."
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"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
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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."
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"Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay, but we can honor their sacrifice."
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"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example."
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"Green sods are all their monument; and yet it tells A nobler history than pillared piles, Or the eternal pyramids."
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"The best road to progress is freedom's road."
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"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree."
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