A motto for all patriotic Americans.

But also…

Stealth Edit: I saw several commentators recommend this as a motto for our perilous times: no matter how bad things seem, persevere. Don’t give up; keep fighting. That’s what I meant.

The phrase seemed good enough by itself, subtle, with only “a suggestion for loyal Americans” as the text. But then I got a comment from Robert Malchman asking if there was a link missing. There wasn’t, but his comment caused me to look up who said it and what happened.

But first, an expert opinion, my friend and classmate, Naval historian William H. Roberts:

“Don’t give up the ship is good once you’ve taken damage. Train harder and win is better.”

A paraphrase of the Wikipedia entry: James Lawrence was commander of the USS Chesapeake during the 1812 Battle of Boston Harbor. Fatally wounded, his last words were “Don’t give up the ship!” He said this during the capture of his vessel by the British. His crew didn’t, in some sense, “Give Up The Ship,” which is to say they fought but they did lose the battle.