Memorial Day

Sunday, May 29, 2011 – Memorial Day

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty – they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem. ~ Aaron Kilbourn

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

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.~ George Washington

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. ~ Mark Twain

Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves parade. ~ Philip James Bailey

True patriotism isn’t cheap. It’s about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going. ~ Robert Reich

The bravest thing you can do when you are not brave is to profess courage and act accordingly. ~ Corra Harris

Self-trust is the essence of heroism. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer. ~ Novalis

In valor there is hope. ~ Tacitus

Without heroes, we are all plain people, and don’t know how far we can go. ~ Bernard Malamud

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.

That’s what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end. ~ Lise Hand

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

Bravery never goes out of fashion. ~ William Makepeace Thackeray