Veterans Day Quotes
Nothing on this page was written for Veterans Day. It is built from four pages, War, Courage, Patriotism and Gratitude, and the mix is not tidy. The war page contains plenty of writers who hated it, and the patriotism page contains Bertrand Russell remarking in 1962 that patriots talk of dying for their country and never of killing for it.
That makes the page more honest than a greeting card and less convenient. If you need a line of thanks, the gratitude entries are the safest place to look. If you want something that sounds like a speech, read the notes first, because some of the best-known patriotic lines here are flagged as misattributed.
Most quoted on veterans day:
“The army,” says a Moslem historian, with charming clarity, “is the source and means of government.”
— How can a man be brave when he's afraid ?
— It is the only time a man can be brave.
Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.
We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.
That's the way it is in war. You win or lose, live or die—and the difference is just an eyelash.
A riot is a spontaneous outburst. A war is subject to advance planning.