Quotes for Remembrance Day

Quotes for Remembrance Day: Poppy Flowers Remind Us That War Destroys Life

In 1915, Punch magazine published a John McCrae poem titled, "In Flanders Fields." McCrae, a Canadian soldier, had served in the Second Battle of Ypres in Flanders, Belgium. He wrote, "In Flanders Fields" after a friend died in battle and was buried with a simple wooden cross as a marker. The poem described similar mass graveyards on the fields of Flanders, fields that were alive with red poppies but now filled with the corpses of dead soldiers. The poem highlights the irony of war, where a soldier dies so that a nation of people lives.

John McCrae's poem made poppies a symbol of the First World War, representing bloodshed. As a mark of respect, people lay wreaths of poppies on the graves of those who died at war. Many people wear red poppies on their lapels as a sign of remembrance. People also observe a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, Remembrance Day. Most places hold a special Remembrance Day service, where hymns and national anthems are played in honor of war heroes. Here are some quotes to share in honor of our past fallen soldiers and to take a moment to remember them.

Jose Narosky

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."
Aaron Kilbourn


"The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem."
Richard Hovey


"Our cheer goes back to them, the valiant dead!
Laurels and roses on their graves to-day,
Lilies and laurels over them we lay,
And violets o'er each unforgotten head."
Joseph Drake


"And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave."
Benjamin Disraeli


"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example."
William Havard


"The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children."
Joseph Campbell


"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
Douglas MacArthur


"In my dreams, I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield."
Publilius Syrus


"Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back."
Billy Graham


"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened. "
Muhammad
"Four things support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valor of the brave."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can."
Carol Lynn Pearson
"Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves."
Michel de Montaigne
"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul."
Napoleon Bonaparte
"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."
William Penn
"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity."
Lucy Larcom
"Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty!"
George F. Kennan
"Heroism...is endurance for one moment more."
Rudyard Kipling, "The Old Issue"
"All we have of freedom, all we use or know—
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago."
Albert Einstein
"We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart."
Louis Pasteur
"It is surmounting difficulties that makes heroes."
John H. Jewett
"Our battle-fields, safe in the keeping
Of Nature's kind, fostering care,
Are blooming,—our heroes are sleeping,—
And peace broods perennial there."
Omar Bradley
"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death."
Randy Vader
"The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots."
Benjamin Disraeli
"Nurture your minds with great thoughts, to believe in the heroic makes heroes."
Henry Ward Beecher
"They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation."
Schuyler Colfax
"These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea."
William Makepeace Thackeray
"Bravery never goes out of fashion."
G. K. Chesterton
"Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle."

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

Michael N. Castle

"These fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor—and a nation who has fought many battles to keep our country free from threats of terror."

Philip James Bailey

"Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves parade."

Maya Angelou

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

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

George William Curtis

"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."

Mark Twain

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."

Thomas Dunn English

"But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for, Is their monument to-day, and for aye."

Jeannette Rankin

"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

Czeslaw Milosz, "The Issa Valley"

"The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them."

Sara Zarr

"When the remembering was done, the forgetting could begin."

Thomas Campbell

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."

Robert Reich

"True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going."

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

"The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war."

Gary Hart

"I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot."

Eve Merriam

"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?'"

Terry Pratchett, "Going Postal"

"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"

G.K. Chesterton

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