Flag Day Quotes

Personal Archives | 06-14-02 | PsyOp

[PsyOp]

We give our Heads! and our Hearts! to Our Country!
One Country! One Language! One Flag!
- Colonel George T. Balch.

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Off with your hat as the flag goes by
And let the heart have its say;
You're man enough for a tear in your eye
That you will not wipe away.
- Henry Cuyler Bunner.

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Yet, Freedom! yet the banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunderstorm against the wind!
- G.G. Lord Byron, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage."

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The colors that float from the masthead should be the credentials of our seamen. There is no safety to us, and the gentlemen have shown it, but in the rule that all who sail under the flag (not being enemies) are protected by the flag. - Henry Clay, speech, House of Representatives. January 8, 1813.

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Then raise the Scarlet Standard high!
Beneath it's shade we'll live and die!
Though cowards flinch and traitors jeer,
We'll keep the Red Flag flying here.
- James Connell.

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If any man haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot. - Major General John A. Dix. 1861.

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When Freedom from her mountain-height
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure, celestial white
With streakings of the morning light.

Flag of the free heart's hope and home!
By angel hands to valour given!
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?
- Joseph Rodman Drake, The American Flag, 1835.

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I name thee Old Glory. - Captain William Driver, said upon the hoisting of a large American flag which had been presented to him by a group of women.

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Rally round the flag, boys --
Give it to the breeze!
That’s the banner that we bore
On the land and seas.
Brave hearts are under it,
Let the traitors brag,
Gallant lads, fire away!
And fight for the flag.
Their flag is but a rag --
Ours is the true on;
Up with the stars and stripes!
Down with the new one!
Let our colors fly, boys --
Guard them day and night;
For victory is liberty,
And God will bless the right.
- James T. Fields, “The Stars & Stripes.”

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I have seen the glories of art and architecture, and mountain and river; I have seen the sunset on the Jungfrau, and the full moon rise over Mont Blanc; but the fairest vision on which these eyes ever looked was the flag of my country in a foreign land. Beautiful as a flower to those who hate it, terrible as a meteor to those who hate it, it is the symbol of the power and glory, and the honor, of fifty million Americans. - George Frisbie Hoar.

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Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Old Ironsides.

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One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, One Nation, evermore! - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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'Twas red with the blood of freemen and white
With the fear of the foe;
And the stars that fit in their courses 'gainst
Tyrants its symbols knows.
- Julia Ward Howe, "The Flag."

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The government claims the right, and it is conceded that the government has the right, to go to your house, while you are sitting by your fireside with your wife and children about you, and the old lady knitting, and the cat playing with the yarn, and everybody happy and sweet—the government claims the right to go to your fireside and take you by force, and put you in the army; take you down to the valley and the shadows of hell, set you by the ruddy roaring guns, and to make you fight for your flag. Now, that being so, when the war is over, and your country is victorious, and you go back to your home, and a lot of Democrats want to trample upon your rights, I want to know, if it is not bound to fight for you. The flag that will not protect its protectors is a dirty rag that contaminates the air in which it waves. The government that will not defend its defenders is a disgrace to the nations of the world. - Robert G. Ingersoll, speech in Indianapolis. 1876.

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Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!
- Francis Scott Key, The Star-Spangled Banner, September 14, 1814.

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It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the man whose people have been here many generations. - Henry Cabot Lodge.

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I see that the old flagpole still stands. Have our troops hoist the colors to its peak, and let no enemy ever haul them down. - General Douglas MacArthur.

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Not for the flag
Of any land because myself was born there
Will I give up my life.
But I will love that land where man is free,
And that I will defend.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd
Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1665.

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The union of hearts--the union of hands--And the flag of our Union forever. - George Pope Morris.

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Your flag and my flag,
And how it flies today
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red
The stripes for ever gleam;
Snow-white and souldwhite--
The good forefathers’ dream;
Sky-blue and true-blue, with stars to gleam aright--
The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.
- Wilbur D. Nesbit, “A Song for Flag Day.”

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And when we view a flag, which to the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor must unite with our interests to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other. - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis #14. December 9, 1783.

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We have room in this country for but one flag, the Stars and Stripes.... We have room for but one loyalty, loyalty to the United States.... - Theodore Roosevelt.

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Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom,
We will rally from the hill-side, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle-cry of Freedom.
- George F. Root.

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If in a foreign land, the flag is companionship, and country itself, with all its endearments. - Charles Summer.

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There is the National Flag. He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. - Charles Summer.

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If this man should fall, who will lift the flag and carry it on. - General Strong prior to the assault on Fort Wagner.

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We take the star from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty. - George Washington.

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Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God. - George Washington, speech to the Constitutional Convention, 1787.

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“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country’s flag,” she said.
- J.G. Whittier, Barbara Frietchie.

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When I think of the flag.... I see alternate strips of parchment upon which are written the rights of liberty and justice, and stripes of blood to vindicate those rights, and then, in the corner, a prediction of the blue serene into which every nation may swim which stands for these great things. - Woodrow Wilson.

[PsyOp]

Here's to Old Glory....

[PsyOp]

Flag Day Ping!

[Pistias]

We have room in this country for but one flag, the Stars and Stripes.... We have room for but one loyalty, loyalty to the United States.... - Theodore Roosevelt

On an aside...I've read works modern and old considering whether Catholics and Turks (the latter being the polite way of referring to Catholics when arguing legislation, I'm told) could be citizens of the United States, given that they are beholden to a "foreign prince."

[kellynla]

Thanks for the ping and a Happy Birthday ARMY...bet you dogfaces thought this jarhead forgot that today was the ARMY's birthday didn't ya...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARMY! Semper Fi

[Senator_Palpatine]

Together,We Shall Bring Peace and Prosperity to the Republic.....

[Ciexyz]

Some years ago I had the moving experience of seeing the "Star Spangled Banner" flag in the Smithsonian, the one that flew over Ft. McHenry when Francis Scott Key, observing it from the British battleship offshore, became inspired to write our national anthem. May the reconstruction of this flag go smoothly.

[EODGUY]

Wonderful post, thank you.

God Bless America.

EODGUY

[Pyro7480]

I thought this was settled A LONG TIME ago. I can't believe there is STILL doubt concerning Catholics' allegiance, after observing the fact that Catholics have served in every single American armed service LOYALLY since the Revolution. Before I saw this, the last time in history that I know of that this was a major issue was during the candidacy of John F. Kennedy in 1960. I'm wondering if you actually subscribe to what you posted, or were you just stating a fact.

[Pyro7480]

Thanks for posting this PsyOp. This is another great collection of quotes.

[PsyOp]

Its an old argument, but I believe that America's Catholics have proven loyalty to the church begins and ends on matters of religion and have proven their loyalty this country when and where it counts. In any case, its not an argument for this thread.

[PsyOp]

Not at all. Jarheads never forget anything that is truly important! I know that. Semper Fi! Different uniforms - same flag!

[Pistias]

Just stating a thought that the quote reminded me of--though it makes me wonder this: if the Pope and the President commanded diametrically opposite things (or even if the Word of God as the majority of sects understand it were to conflict with a command of the nation)...still, PsyOp is right: another time, perhaps.

[Pharmboy]

American ships in New England waters flew a "Liberty Tree" flag in 1775. It shows a green pine tree on a white background.

The Continental Navy used this flag upon its inception

The "Grand Union" shown here is also called The "Cambridge Flag." It was flown over Prospect Hill, overlooking Boston, January 1, 1776. In the canton (the square in the corner) are the crosses of Saint Andrew and Saint George, borrowed from the British flag.

The "Betsy Ross" flag.

According to some sources, this flag was first used in 1777. It was used by the Third Maryland Regiment. There was no official pattern for how the stars were to be arranged. The flag was carried at the Battle of Cowpens, which took place on January 17, 1781, in South Carolina. The actual flag from that battle hangs in the Maryland State House.

At the Battle of Bennington in August 1777 were two famous flags. One, shown here, is called the Bennington Flag or the Fillmore Flag. Nathaniel Fillmore took this flag home from the battlefield. The flag was passed down through generations of Fillmores, including Millard, and today it can be seen at Vermont's Bennington Museum. The other (not pictured) has a green field and a blue canton with 13 gold-painted stars arranged in rows. General John Stark gave his New Hampshire troops a rallying speech that would be the envy of any football coach today. He said, "My men, yonder are the Hessians. They were brought for seven pounds and ten pence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it. Tonight, the American flag floats from yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow"

Click here for source and more flags...

[PsyOp]

Wow! Great post, Thanks!

[sleavelessinseattle]

And when we view a flag, which to the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor must unite with our interests to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other. - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis #14. December 9, 1783.

Such a wonderful quote! would anyone alive today have the guts to say something like that about ANYTHING that was only 7 years old??? I have barbecue sauce older than that! People love a winner...The United States' founding fathers backed a Nation with no track history...with everything they had to give...ITs easy to love the flag, now, with all our triumphs and prosperity...Remember the Founding fathers...The Tree of Liberty was thirstier for the blood of Patriots in those days...it was a sapling...Now its mature...lets be sure and keep it safe from Bore worms like Gephardt, Dashole and Chuckles Schumer. ptui...need mouthwash

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Here is a Flag Day qoute for you.

Islam can kiss my hot and sweaty Clymer.

[PsyOp]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[bonesmccoy]

The transitive form of the word "tread" has many definitions. Here's the listing on the web for the American Heritage Dictionary for "tread"...

TRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To walk on, over, or along.
2. To press beneath the feet; trample.
3. To subdue harshly or cruelly; crush.
4. To form by walking or trampling: tread a path.
5. To execute by walking or dancing: tread a measure.
6. To copulate with. Used of a male bird.

Does anyone know if Definition #6 seems involved with the Continental Naval flag? Whenever I see that great flag with the snake and the slogan "Don't tread on me", I think of the many uses of "tread" in Shakespeare's English. Was our early Navy warning the Brits not to "f$#!" with us?

[sleavelessinseattle]

B1...DUDE...Long may you RAVE!!!|:-D A fellow extraT.

Double ping twice the importance...The FLAG...capish?

I have to say as I typed this ping to a wonderful thread...I had PBS tuned on my TV(for the last time) spewing poisonous Bill Moyers on some crappy PBS talking heads attack on the Bush Administration and he is attacking Dick Cheney for not listening to the AMERICAN people!!!...

PBS...Now there's an example of an organization that should be commenting on Conservatives not listening to their constituents...

STOP SUPPORTING PBS!!!
I AM ENRAGED!!!!
DOUBLE YOUR PLEDGE TO FREE REPUBLIC!!!
I had to stop typing and switch off that LIBERAL SH!#STORM invading my house from PBS...FEH!!!!
As President Pro Tem in absentia of New Freepia Mars Colony I Hereby formally declare:
I WILL NEVER WATCH, MUCH LESS, SUPPORT PBS AGAIN!!!FREEP ATTACK!!!!!!!

[Squantos]

You are hereby fined one "attaboy" for not posting this one, my favorite of course :o)

Stay Safe !