As the days grow longer, the temperatures grow warmer, and you dust off your grill to put your best grilling tips to good use, it can be easy to forget that Memorial Day is about so much more than enjoying the fruity summer cocktails or fun outdoor summer activities. No, Memorial Day is about honoring the fallen soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
It can be difficult, if not impossible, to find the right words to honor those who lost their lives for our freedom. Thankfully, there are more than a few Memorial Day quotes that come close. These patriotic quotes have been uttered by some of the most influential American leaders and thinkers, including John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, Bob Dylan, and Maya Angelou.
So if you’re looking for a great caption to go with your Memorial Day Instagram post, or just want to find the words to share with a veteran or service member who is remembering a lost brother or sister this year, here are just a few famous Memorial Day quotes that best embody what the day is truly all about.
“Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.”
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”
“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.”
“We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.”
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter the words, but to live by them.”
“Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory there would be no civilization, no future.”
“And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb a beauty weeps the brave.”
“The brave never die, though they sleep in dust, their courage nerves a thousand living men.”
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”
“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.”
“The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.”
“Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more tan visits to the troops and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well.”
“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.”
“Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, it’s 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.”
“Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what. you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”
“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived.”
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.”
“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
“May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn’t free.”
21JAMES A. GARFIELD
“We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
“Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours.”
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s tree.”
24HERBERT HOOVER
“Here men endured that a nation might live.”
“America’s Veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world.”
“Patriotism is not short, frenzied, outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
“Home of the free, because of the brave.”
“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.”
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
“… And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.”
“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.”
“We don’t know them all, but we owe them all.”
“Without heroes, we are all plain people, and don’t know how far we can go.”
“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.”
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
“The veterans of our military services have put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. They have dedicated their lives to their country and deserve to be recognized for their commitment.”
“America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels.”
“May we never forget freedom isn’t free.”
“If you want to thank a soldier, be the kind of American worth fighting for.”
“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”
“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes.”
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.”
43MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.”
