When people sign up for the military, they're acknowledging that if they end up going to war, they may lose their lives fighting for our country. Being in a military family isn't easy, but it's quite noble. It takes a special person with a deep love of our country to take such a risk. Memorial Day quotes are a great way to honor those who lost their lives during their time in service. It could be anyone from a great-grandparent to a son or daughter.
Memorial Day is always observed on the last Monday in May. And Memorial Day quotes will help you understand the importance of the holiday even more. While it's tough to sit down and "celebrate" Memorial Day, Memorial Day quotes will at least remind us who we're honoring — and what they sacrificed.
Memorial Day quotes are also a great way to feel more connected to families who've lost someone they love. Here are some of the best Memorial Day quotes to share.
Patriotic Memorial Day Quotes
"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
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." — James Allen
"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
"Their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored." — Daniel Webster
"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
"May we never forget freedom isn’t free." — Unknown
"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." — Judd Gregg
"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it." — Thucydides
"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
"A man is a patriot if his heart beats true to his country." — Charles E. Jefferson
"The patriot's blood is the seed of freedom's tree." — Thomas Campbell
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." — Nathan Hale
"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
"Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it." — Unknown
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." — Martin Luther King Jr.
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." — St. Ambrose
Memorial Day Quotes That Will Make You Think
"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
"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust, their courage nerves a thousand living men." — Minot J. Savage
"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
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America." — Bill Clinton
"If you want to thank a soldier, be the kind of American worth fighting for." — Unknown
"We don't know them all, but we owe them all." — Unknown
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived." — George S. Patton
"Here men endured that a nation might live." — Herbert Hoover
"We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage." — Theodore Roosevelt
"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." — Pete Hegseth
Great Memorial Day Quotes To Share
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." — Mark Twain
"We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." — Cynthia Ozick
"Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history." — Mary Roach
"America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels." — Claudia Pemberton
"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." — Adlai Stevenson
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." — Elmer Davis
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility." — Eleanor Roosevelt
"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first." — Charles de Gaulle
"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
"I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." — Harriet Tubman
"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
"There is nothing nobler than risking your life for your country." — Nick Lampson
"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
"Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion." — Calvin Coolidge
"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
"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes." — Maya Angelou
"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory there would be no civilization, no future." — Elie Wiesel
"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom." — Bob Dylan
"And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb a beauty weeps the brave." — Joseph Rodman Drake
"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
"Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay." — Barack Obama
"What happens after death is so unspeakably glorious that our imagination and our feelings do not suffice to form even an approximate conception of it. The dissolution of our time-bound form in eternity brings no loss of meaning." — Carl Jung
"For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue." — James A. Garfield
"Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." — Douglas MacArthur
"Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours." — Wallace Bruce
"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
"America's Veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world." — John Doolittle
