Henry Cabot Lodge

Hero Tales: From American History Henry Cabot Lodge

This book is truly an American treasure. It is about Americans who showed that they knew how to live and how to die - who proved their truth by their endeavors.

It is a good thing for all Americans, and it is an especially good thing for young Americans, to remember the men who have given their lives in war and peace to the service of their fellow-countrymen, and to keep in mind the feats of daring and personal prowess done in time past by some of the many champions of the nation in the various crises of her history. Thrift, industry, obedience to law, and intellectual cultivation are essential qualities in the make-up of any successful people; but no people can be really great unless they possess also the heroic virtues which are as needful in time of peace as in time of war, and as important in civil as in military life.

As a civilized people we desire peace, but the only peace worth having is obtained by instant readiness to fight when wronged - not by unwillingness or inability to fight at all. No citizen of a free state should wrong any man; but it is not enough merely to refrain from infringing on the rights of others; he must also be able and willing to stand up for his/her own rights and those of his country against all comers, and he must be ready at any time to do his full share in resisting either malice domestic or foreign levy.