Quotes from Flags of Our Fathers

James D. Bradley ·  382 pages

Rating: (43.5K votes)


“Today the word "hero" has been diminished. confused with "celebrity." But in my father's generation the word meant something.
celebrities seek fame. They take actions to get attention. Most often, the actions they take have no particular moral content. Heroes are heroes because they have risked something to help others. Their actions involve courage. Often, those heroes have been indifferent to the public's attention. But at least, the hero could understand the focus of the emotion.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“When I asked him, fifty-three years after the event, "Mr. Lucas, why did you jump on those grenades?" he did not hesitate with his answer: "To save my buddies.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“The battle of Iwo Jima would quickly turn into a primitive contest of gladiators: Japanese gladiators fighting from caves and tunnels like the catacombs of the Colosseum, and American gladiators aboveground, exposed on all sides, using liquid gasoline to burn their opponents out of their lethal hiding places.

All of this on an island five and a half miles long and two miles wide. An area smaller than Doc Bradley's hometown of Antigo, but bearing ten times the humanity. A car driving sixty miles an hour could cover its length in five and a half minutes. For the slogging, dying Marines, it would take more than a month.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“This giant fleet of American warships – a modern armada – churns across the ocean day and night for a journey of four thousand miles. It moves with the inevitability of a railroad schedule. It stops for nothing, it deviates for nothing. The United States, having been surprised at Pearl Harbor and then raked in battle after battle by the onrushing forces of imperial Japan, has finally stabilized and gathered its strength. Now the American giant is fully awake and cold-eyed. It is stalking an ocean, rounding the curve of the earth, to crush its tormentor.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“That is how we always keep our beloved dead alive, isn’t it? By telling stories about them; true stories.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers



“Like a moth, Rene was attracted to the flame of fame”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“Roughly fifty percent of procedure in a Marine basic-training program is about disconnecting the young American boy from his concept of himself as a unique individual, a lone operator.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“Later he would declare that “not getting hit was like running through rain and not getting wet.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“Iwo Jima had become the number-one front-page story in newspapers across the country. And it had become the most heavily covered, written-about battle in World War II.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“Celebrities seek fame. They take actions to get attention. Most often, the actions they take have no particular moral content.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers



“Late in his life, Rene complained of living a life of a celebrity one minute and a “John Doe” the next.”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”
― James D. Bradley, quote from Flags of Our Fathers


Video

About the author

James D. Bradley
Born place: in Wisconsin, The United States
Born date January 1, 1954
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“... it isn’t the kids who have two parents and a stable home who are the luckiest ones. It’s the kids who know the taste of shit because they’ve been eatin’ it all their lives and then someone finds them and offers them a taste of somethin’ sweeter and they learn that life can be good. They learn to trust. They learn that if you care about someone you put your ass on the line to keep them safe. They learn that love doesn’t come with conditions.
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Rock Chick Renegade


“The stories we hear in childhood are the ones we remember all our lives.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Wind Through the Keyhole


“You can't fix stupid, but you can numb it was a 2 by 4.--T-SHIRT”
― Darynda Jones, quote from Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet


“I could not disagree more,” said Ganesh, my father giving me a hidden wink. “If we build toward them they’ll see it as hostile and we’ll be pulled into a confrontation. Now, I agree that we’ve got to expand — these last few days in Bridewell have clearly shown that. Within a few years Bridewell and the towns against the sea will be at maximum capacity, and then what will we do? We have over ten miles between us and Ainsworth, which I think is a good healthy distance. We can’t expand off the cliffs from Lathbury or Turlock, so those are dead ends. Bridewell is stuck in the middle with no place to grow. I think our best option is to start building two-and three-story buildings. Grow up instead of out. We could grow to twice our size if we just abolished the single-level rule.”
― Patrick Carman, quote from The Dark Hills Divide


“From any rational point of view I am absurd; but there are no longer any rational points of view.”
― Margaret Atwood, quote from Surfacing


Interesting books

The Marriage Trap
(26.7K)
The Marriage Trap
by Jennifer Probst
Play
(43.5K)
Play
by Kylie Scott
The Rest of Us Just Live Here
(35.4K)
The Rest of Us Just...
by Patrick Ness
South of Broad
(35.8K)
South of Broad
by Pat Conroy
Cathedral
(22.7K)
Cathedral
by Raymond Carver
Too Loud a Solitude
(10.9K)
Too Loud a Solitude
by Bohumil Hrabal

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.