QUOTES TO PONDER

I love the United States of America. My grandparents immigrated here from Ireland in 1919 because they knew this would be a better place for their unborn children... my parents. They had never set foot on this soil, knew no one, had never seen so much as a photograph, and yet they knew it would be better. You know what? They were RIGHT!

I feel if you love something, you should support it, right or wrong, and never humiliate it publicly. If you love something, you are proud of it's accomplishments, encourage it after a failure, protect it and nurture it. If you love something, you would lay down your own life before you allow it to come to harm.

I love the USA. I support this great country, right or wrong, and the brave men and women in the Armed Forces that are making a sacrifice for what we all love - the right of every American to FREEDOM and SAFETY.

I think there is a lot of "Sounding Off" on this subject, but wanted to post some quotes that are pertinent for today. Note some of the dates...

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It is the Soldier, not the reporter who has given us freedom of press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, 1970

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“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

- Thomas Paine, in the introduction to The American Crisis 1776

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“War both needs and generates certain virtues; not the highest, but what may be called the preliminary virtues, as valour, veracity, the spirit of obedience, the habit of discipline. Any of these, and of others like them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in the race of nations."

- Walter Bagehot (1826–1877), British economist, critic. Physics and Politics, ch. 2, sct. 3 (1872).

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"When great nations fear to expand, shrink from expansion, it is because their greatness is coming to an end. Are we, still in the prime of our lusty youth, still at the beginning of our glorious manhood, to sit down among the outworn people, to take our place with the weak and the craven? A thousand times no!"

-Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), U.S. Republican (later Progressive) politician, president. speech, Sept. 1899, delivered in Akron, Ohio.

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"Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between their native dislike for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there has been a rethinking [and] now we can say to you, and say as a nation, thank you for your courage."

- Ronald Reagan, on privately financed Vietnam Veterans Memorial and statue in Washington DC, Veterans Day address 11 Nov 84.

Thank you very much for posting this!
I am an army brat and I was married to a marine.
I support our troops that are sacrificing everything for us. Whether I agree or not, the military personnel are doing their jobs!

The words "Live Free or Die," written by General John Stark (New Hampshire's most distinguished hero of the Revolutionary War), July 31, 1809.

The motto was part of a volunteer toast which General Stark sent to his wartime comrades, in which he declined an invitation to head up a 32nd anniversary reunion of the 1777 Battle of Bennington in Vermont, because of poor health. The toast said in full: "Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst of Evils." The following year, a similar invitation (also declined) said: "The toast, sir, which you sent us in 1809 will continue to vibrate with unceasing pleasure in our ears, "Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst Of Evils."


Source

...for sharing!

quotes that make me proud to be an American,,, and Free,, and to serve my country,,,