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Veterans Day is a federal holiday observed each year on 11 November.
While the day was initially picked to mark the end of the ‘War of All Wars’ (World War I), it is now a national celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of their country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.
Here are 65 Veteran Quotes to help you say ‘thank you for your service’ to those who have served in your community. Whether on Veteran’s Day or any day, you’ll find a meaningful way to acknowledge their service and sacrifice.
Veteran Quotes
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.
Abraham Lincoln
America’s Veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world.
John Doolittle
It’s about how we treat our veterans every single day of the year. It’s about making sure they have the care they need and the benefits that they’ve earned when they come home. It’s about serving all of you as well as you’ve served the United States of America.
Barack Obama
The hero is the man dedicated to the creation and / or defense of reality-conforming, life-promoting values
Andrew Bernstein
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
Billy Graham
The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
G.K. Chesterton
We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf.
George Orwell
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.
Mark Twain
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John F. Kennedy
Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it… it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.
Unknown
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
Cynthia Ozick
America’s veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 229 years ago.
Steve Buyer
In valor there is hope.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus
To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day.
Unknown
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
Alexander Hamilton
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
George S. Patton
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
Douglas MacArthur
All gave some, some gave all.
Billy Ray Cyrus, Some Gave All
In war the heroes always outnumber the soldiers ten to one.
H.L. Mencken
Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
G.K. Chesterton
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
Arthur Ashe
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.
Sidney Sheldon
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.
Steve Buyer
The sanctity of our battlefields, monuments, and veterans institutions is of utmost importance to preserve military history and pay respect to those who fought.
Henry Waxman
We owe our World War II veterans – and all our veterans – a debt we can never fully repay.
Doc Hastings
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
Abraham Lincoln
In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause.
Ronald Reagan
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.
Barbara Bush
Our veterans accepted the responsibility to defend America and uphold our values when duty called.
Bill Shuster
The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.
George Washington
To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of 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.
Woodrow Wilson
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Patrick Henry
Honoring the sacrifices many have made for our country in the name of freedom and democracy is the very foundation of Veterans Day.
Charles B. Rangel
Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.
Michel de Montaigne
The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage.
Thucydides
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.
Jimmy Carter
It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
The thing is this: You got to have fun while you’re fightin’ for freedom, ’cause you don’t always win.
Molly Ivins
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.
Nick Lampson
Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
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.
Judd Gregg
As a former veteran, I understand the needs of veterans, and have been clear – we will work together, stand together with the Administration, but we will also question their policies when they shortchange veterans and military retirees.
Solomon Ortiz
I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
I’m trying to raise the awareness of the troops that, when they deploy and go to war, it’s not just them at war – it’s also their family. Their family is having to go through all the hardships and the stresses.
Chris Kyle
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.
Dan Lipinski
Better than honor and glory, and history’s iron pen, was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
Richard Watson Gilder
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.
Randy Neugebauer
When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death – that is heroism.
Robert G. Ingersoll
I go where the sound of thunder is.
Alfred M. Gray
Our soldiers have nobly fought to protect freedom since our country’s birth, and have fought to protect those that could not protect themselves, even in foreign lands when called upon.
John Linder
I am not a hero but the brave men who died deserved this honor.
Ira Hayes
We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail.
George W. Bush
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!
Sun Tzu
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.
Tom Clancy
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a Veteran.
Unknown
We hope you’ve been inspired by these Veteran Quotes.
Veterans, whether they served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marines, are an important part of our society. However long they served, and whether they retired or were injured, they gave up a part of their lives to protect and serve our country and our freedoms, as well as protecting and offering aid to other countries.
You don’t have to wait for Veterans Day – Next time you see a veteran in your community, thank them for their service. You’ll probably make their day!