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Memorial Day Quotes

This page is assembled from three others: War, Death and Gratitude. There is no memorial collection underneath it. One poem is filed against the day itself, Joyce Kilmer’s, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), and it opens with a bugle that, he says, is not singing of war today.

The rest is whatever the three source pages rate highest, so it leans toward poetry and toward writers who saw war up close. Several famous lines about death and sacrifice carry flags here, so read the note on a quote’s own page before you attach a name to it.

Random quote on Memorial Day

Most quoted on memorial day:

Down to the dust! — and, as thou rott'st away,
Even worms shall perish on thy poisonous clay.

Lord Byron

War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.

Heraclitus

The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.

Heraclitus

That possession which we gain by the sword is not lasting; gratitude for benefits is eternal.

Quintus Curtius Rufus

O heart, and mind, and thoughts! what thing do you
Hope to inherit in the grave below?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more:
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.

Walter Scott Lady of the Lake (1810)

Death opens unknown doors. It is most grand to die.

John Masefield

For your altars and your fires.

Cicero

I believe that I am today acting according to the purposes of the almighty Creator. In resisting the Jew, I am fighting the Lord’s battle.

Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (1925)

Art, thou hast many infamies,
But not an infamy like this.
O snap the fife and still the drum
And show the monster as she is.

Richard Le Gallienne The Illusion of War. Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922)

Last argument of kings. [Cannon.]

Louis XIV of France

How do wars begin? Through affront, through bravado, through stupidity or overconfidence, through sacred purpose or greed.

Ian McDonald Verthandi’s Ring (2007)

Th' imperial ensign, which, full high advanc'd,
Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind.
With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed,
Seraphic arms and trophies.

John Milton

I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

Barack Obama The New Yorker (2004)

For God's sake, do not drag me into another war! I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself.

Sydney Smith

Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side.

Thomas Jefferson

I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.

Albert Einstein

I believe the media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it is wielded as a weapon of war. That has to be challenged.

Amy Goodman Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America (2016)

The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.

Thomas Moore Irish Melodies (1807)

In short, if newspapers were written by people whose sole object in writing was to tell the truth about politics and the truth about art we should not believe in war, and we should believe in art.

Virginia Woolf

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