Memorial Day Quotes
Memorial Day Quotes. Every year on this day, we celebrate those who have served our country.
Memorial Day of 2025 will be the 157th year we’ve set aside a day to remember. We remember those who served in uniform to keep this great nation safe.
We celebrate their commitment to our country.
And for us in the United States, Memorial Day marks the (unofficial) beginning of summer. The excitement of the first summer barbecues and long weekends at the beach is in the air.
But Memorial Day means much more to us than the first warm days of summer. On this day, we remember and celebrate those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Sometimes, their sacrifice is made far from home, defending the ideals for which America stands. Because America is a place “from sea to shining sea,” and it’s also a set of shared grand and glorious ideals.
Many people don’t know that at 3:00 pm, your local time, we hold a National Moment of Remembrance. We could do worse than reading some of these quotes at that time.
25 Memorial Day Quotes from famous thinkers throughout the ages
Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.
Abraham Lincoln
Each of the patriots whom we remember on this day was first a beloved son or daughter, a brother or sister, or a spouse, friend, and neighbor.
George H. W. Bush
More Quotes You’ll Enjoy
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
Billy Graham
America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor.
There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.
Bill Clinton
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.
Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
Mark Twain
One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation forevermore!
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy
Patriotism is not short, frenzied outburst of emotion, but tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
Joseph Campbell
Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.
Barack Obama
A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.
Bob Dylan
Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.
Heroes never die. They live on forever in the hearts and minds of those who would follow in their footsteps.
Emily Potter
The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.
Jeff Miller
We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots.
Charles F. Browne
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
Elmer Davis
May we think of freedom, not as the right to as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.
Peter Marshall
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Plato
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.
John F. Kennedy
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With Freedom comes responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt
And let’s remember that all of us should strive to be someone’s hero.
Maike Corbett is the founder and food blogger of Cheerful Cook, a popular recipe website featuring comfort food recipes from the US and Germany. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the AP Wire and MSN.