Elvis Presley: January 8, 1935—August 16, 1977

“It was hard to understand how somebody who came in and took away so many people’s loneliness could have ended up so lonely . . . because he deserved a lot better.” –Bruce Springsteen on Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley: January 8, 1935—August 16, 1977

“To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.” –Thomas Campbell

Elvis, 1977

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” –From “Citizenship In A Republic” by Theodore Roosevelt, Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, 1910.

Elvis Presley: January 8, 1935—August 16, 1977

“Should you go first and I remain for battles to be fought, each thing you’ve touched along the way will be a hallowed spot. I’ll hear your voice, I’ll see your smile, though blindly I may grope. The memory of your helping hand will buoy me on with hope.” –From “Should You Go First” by Albert Roswell, Poems That Touch The Heart, compiled by A. L. Alexander, Doubleday, New York, 1941.

Elvis, 1972

“Most of all, I’d like to thank you. And I’d like to tell you, this is the last day of our tour, and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience. You’ve really made it worthwhile. […] If you want us back, just let us know, and we’ll come back.” –Elvis Presley, June 26, 1977, Indianapolis, Indiana, concluding his final concert