Veterans Day Quotations

Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.

Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It is unacceptable that disabled veterans in Illinois rank at the bottom of the list when it comes to disability pay. We owe our disabled veterans more than speeches, parades and monuments.

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

But this Veterans Day, I believe we should do more than sing the praises of the bravery and patriotism that our veterans have embodied in the past. We should take this opportunity to re-evaluate how we are treating our veterans in the present.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

America's Veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world.

Memorial Day isn't just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that's a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It's a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it.

The young patriots now returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other deployments worldwide are joining the ranks of veterans to whom America owes an immense debt of gratitude.

The sacrifices made by veterans and their willingness to fight in defense of our nation merit our deep respect and praise - and to the best in benefits and medical care.

Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.

America's veterans and troops serving abroad today fought hard to preserve our red, white and blue, from the Revolutionary War to today's Global War Against Terrorism, and Congress' action today is appropriate for one of our most sacred symbols.

While only one day of the year is dedicated solely to honoring our veterans, Americans must never forget the sacrifices that many of our fellow countrymen have made to defend our country and protect our freedoms.

From the world wars of Europe to the jungles of the Far East, from the deserts of the Middle East to the African continent, and even here in our own hemisphere, our veterans have made the world a better place and America the great country we are today.

America's veterans deserve the very best health care because they've earned it.

Twenty-five million veterans are living among us today. These men and women selflessly set aside their civilian lives to put on the uniform and serve us.

It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

While we can never truly repay the debt we owe our heroes, the least we should do for our brave veterans is to ensure that the government takes a proactive approach to delivering the services and benefits they have earned, so they can access the care they need and so richly deserve.

The veterans of our military services have put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. They have dedicated their lives to their country and deserve to be recognized for their commitment.

Thank you for the sacrifices you and your families are making. Our Vietnam Veterans have taught us that no matter what are positions may be on policy, as Americans and patriots, we must support all of our soldiers with our thoughts and our prayers.

The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.

Our veterans accepted the responsibility to defend America and uphold our values when duty called.

On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.

I believe that the role of limited government should be looking after the needs of veterans, the elderly, children and those institutions that improve the quality of life for struggling families - I don't believe that government should bend to serve the needs of subsidized multi-national corporations and entitled billionaires.

America's veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 229 years ago.

To honor our national promise to our veterans, we must continue to improve services for our men and women in uniform today and provide long overdue benefits for the veterans and military retirees who have already served.

While we can't begin to repay the debt we owe our veterans for their brave service, we can certainly take steps to ease the physical, psychological and financial hardships they may be experiencing.

Congress should stop treating veterans like they're asking for a hand out when it comes to the benefits they were promised, and they should realize that, were it not for these veterans, there would be nothing to hand out.

Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place - police, firefighters and members of our armed forces.

Because all of us believe and understand in the fabric of the common bond of why we call ourselves American is to care for the men and women who wear the uniform; and when they take off the uniform, we care for them when they are veterans.

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction.

We owe our World War II veterans - and all our veterans - a debt we can never fully repay.

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

Honoring the sacrifices many have made for our country in the name of freedom and democracy is the very foundation of Veterans Day.

Have the courage to act instead of react.

Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence now and independence forever.

Well, look at what people are doing for returned veterans now. The wounded warriors. They're working hard to make the wounded veterans feel that they are loved and welcomed home, unlike Vietnam. It was not a very kind, gentle world then. I think we are kinder and gentler.

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.

To those seniors, and especially elderly veterans like myself, I want to tell you this: You are not alone, and you having nothing to be ashamed of. If elder abuse happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I want you to know that you deserve better.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

My father had many, many veterans over to the house, and the older I got the more I appreciated their sacrifice.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.

As a 22-year Army Veteran who served in Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, and as a Civilian Advisor to the Afghan Army in Operation Enduring Freedom, I understand both the gravity of giving the order, and the challenge of carrying it out.

These are the times that try men's souls.

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.

We make war that we may live in peace.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

I was there. I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny.

It is Veterans Day, when we honor everyone who served in all of the campaigns. We honor them with dignity and respect, and of course mattress sales and tire discounts.

In World War One, they called it shell shock. Second time around, they called it battle fatigue. After 'Nam, it was post-traumatic stress disorder.

We sit at our consoles and play "Gears of War", but we don't see images from war. We don't turn on the news and see the evidence of war, the result of war. Maybe twice a year, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, we'll go out, we'll hang our flags, we'll try to inculcate in our children some sense of national honor for the fallen. But really, we don't see it. We just don't see the pictures. There's no drive-by on the freeway of death up close. So we don't really see bravery.

War should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an instrument of policy.

There never was a good war or a bad revolution.

Today is Veterans Day. Thank you to all our men and women who have served the United States armed forces. In honor of Veterans Day we are marching out a few jokes that have already served.

The U.S. Military is us. There is no truer representation of a country than the people that it sends into the field to fight for it. The people who wear our uniform and carry our rifles into combat are our kids, and our job is to support them, because they're protecting us.

No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.

You'd have to go a long way to find someone who was more proud and grateful for what our veterans have done for all of us.

In a fire, you have to be thoughtful; you have to have a certain kind of intuitive smarts that the veterans have. I'm not there yet, despite the Stanford degree.

All of my high school male teachers were WWII and/or Korean War veterans. They taught my brothers and me the value of service to our country and reinforced what our dad had shown us about the meaning of service.

The 2.4 million bright, brave, incredibly fit and remarkably talented young Americans who have served in our armed forces since we were attacked on 9-11-01 are all volunteers. As General Petraeus put it during a conversation we had in Afghanistan, 'They all came or stayed, knowing they were going to war.' For more than a decade, these patriots and their loved ones have made extraordinary sacrifices for this country. They embody the classical definition of heroes: those who put themselves at risk for the benefit of others.

Either war is obsolete, or men are.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.

On Veterans Day, we take time to honor those men and women who bravely serve and have served our nation in the U.S. Armed Forces.

A brave captain is as a root, out of which, as branches, the courage of his soldiers doth spring.

A soldier is he whose blood makes the glory of the general.

Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.

I hope to live long enough to see my surviving comrades march side by side with the Union veterans along Pennsylvania Avenue, and then I will die happy.

This year's Veterans Day celebration is especially significant as our country remains committed to fighting the War on Terror and as brave men and women are heroically defending our homeland.

So shines a good deed... in a weary world.

I’ll tell you what I’m fighting for. Not for England, nor her allies, nor any patriotic cause. It’s all come down to the hope of being with you..

I want you to know, that you deserve the best. You're beautiful.

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are.

To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it until the test comes.

Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.

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.