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:
And if there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.
The Schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.
True courage scorns
To vent her prowess in a storm of words;
And, to the valiant, actions speak alone.
Ethical obligation has to subordinate itself to the totalitarian nature of war.
Every battle, every war - is fought for things worth dying for.
If wars can be started with lies, they can be stopped by truth.
Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause.
I dare do all that may become a man:
Who dares do more, is none.
I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before.
Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron!
Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.
Courage is of the heart by derivation,
And great it is. But fear is of the soul.