Memorial Day Quotes, Quotes & Poems Honoring Memorial Day
Memorial Day Poem – In Flanders Field
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Here is a collection of some of the most famous Memorial Day quotes and sayings:
- War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. -Georges Clemenceau
- Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt. -Bergen Evans
- Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. -Senator Barry Goldwater
- Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. -William Pitt
- Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Action, self-reliance, the vision of self and the future have been the only means by which the oppressed have seen and realized the light of their own freedom. -Marcus Garvey
- In war, there is no prize for the runner-up. -General Omar Bradley
- So long as there are men there will be wars. -Albert Einstein
- I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -Albert Einstein
- The cost of liberty is less than the cost of repression. -Web Dubois
- The purpose of all war is ultimately peace. -Saint Augustine
- 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 and I’ll proudly stand next to him to defend her still today, ‘cuz there ain’t no doubt I love this land, god bless the USA. -Lee Greenwood
- 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. -John F. Kennedy
- Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background, the countless minor scenes and interiors of the secession war; and it is best they should not. The real war will never get in the books. -Walt Whitman
- As I approach the gates of heaven;
St. Peter I will tell;
One more soldier reporting sir;
I’ve served my time in hell. -Mark Anthony Gresswell - The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots. -Randy Vader
- The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem. -Rev. Aaron Kilbourn
- When we say “War is over if you want it,” we mean that if everyone demanded peace instead of another TV set, we’d have peace. -John Lennon
- Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace. -Martin Luther
- I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived. -Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
- Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o’er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more.
Days of danger, nights of waking. -Sir Walter Scott - The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. -William Havard
Here are some more Memorial Day Quotes:
On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation!
~Thomas William Parsons
Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.
~Daniel Webster
With the tears a Land hath shed
Their graves should ever be green.
~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?
~Henry Ward Beecher
Green sods are all their monuments; and yet it tells
A nobler history than pillared piles,
Or the eternal pyramids.
~James Gates Percival
Is’t death to fall for Freedom’s right?
He’s dead alone who lacks her light!
~Thomas Campbell