JFK Quotes

· "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."

· "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

· "We must use time as a tool not as a couch."

· "I LOOK FORWARD TO AN AMERICA WHICH WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF GRACE AND BEAUTY."

· "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

· "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

· "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

· "When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When poetry corrupts, poetry cleanse, for art establishes the basic human truths, which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."

· "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."

· "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future." ---Quote by JFK

· A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

· If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

· Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

· An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

· The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.

· In an address before the General Assembly of the United Nations on September.

· The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!

· We need men who can dream of things that never were.

· "A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insis tupon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today--and in fact we have forgotten."

· "Irrational barriers and ancient prejudices fall quickly when the question of survival itself is at stake."

· "It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."

· "When you have seven percent unemployed, you have ninety-three percent working."

· “Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

· “There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

· “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”

· "I LOOK FORWARD TO AN AMERICA WHICH WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF GRACE AND BEAUTY."

· "Let us call a truce to terror. Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And as we build an international capacity to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war."

· "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

· "The first requirement of efficiency and economy... is highly competent personel."

· "There is inherited wealth in this country and also inherited poverty."

· "There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country...Life is unfair."

· "A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed."

· "Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person between Nixon and the White House."

· "I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.
I think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it."

· "Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."

· "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly."

· "We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."

· "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."

· "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future."

· "If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."

· "So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved."

· "Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

· "All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea -- whether it is to sail or to watch it -- we are going back from whence we came. "

· "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility-I welcome it."

· "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House--with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined here alone."

· "Let the world go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home and around the world!"

· "Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be President, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process."

· "The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."

· "There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war, and some men are wounded, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It's very hard in military or personal life to assure complete equality."

· "We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation."

· "Life is unfair."

· "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic."

· "Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger's skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas."

· "Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future"

· "I am flatly opposed to appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican. Whatever advantages it might have in Rome -- and I'm not convinced of these -- they would be more than offset by the divisive effect at home. "

· "I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the First Amendment's guarantees of religious liberty ... Neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test -- even by indirection. "

· "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. "

· "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. "

· "Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

· "Liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain."

· "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."

· "The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises.. it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them."

· "When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."

· “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.”

· "I'm forty-three years old, and I'm the healthiest candidate for President in the United States. You've traveled with me enough to know that I'm not going to die in office. "

· "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

· "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on."

· "We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others."

· "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

· "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. "

· "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

· "Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life."

· "A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality. "

· "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. "

· "Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes… can no longer be of concern to great powers alone. "

· "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. "

· "I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times. "

· "We must use time as a tool, not as a couch. "

· "Victory has a thousand fathers; defeat is an orphan. "

· "There will always be dissident voices heard in the land expresing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side, and seeking influence without responsibility. "

· "Too often we...enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. "

· "Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource "

· "Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. "

· "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

· "A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed. "

· "Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both."

· "For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future."

· "Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation."

· "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. "

· "We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained. "

· "This increase in the life span and the number of our senior citizens presents this Nation with increased opportunities: the opportunity to draw upon their skill and sagacity--and the opportunity to provide the respect and recognition they have earned. It is not enough for a great nation merely to have added new years to life--our objective must also be to add new life to those years."

· “One person can make a difference and every person should try.”

· Our primary long-range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament -- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms.

· The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.

· "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less tfunhan the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."

· "The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises.. it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them."

· "THIS COUNTRY CANNOT AFFORD TO BE MATERIALLY RICH AND SPIRITUALLY POOR. "

· "For of those to whom much is given, much is required."

· “What we do know and can do will ALWAYS be exceeded by what we don’t know and can’t do.”

· "In the final analysis, it's their war'- JFK on the Vietnam War, before he had the chance to pull out he was assassinated."

· "Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder."

· "A revolution is coming - a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough - but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character, we cannot alter its inevitability."

· "A wall is a hell of a lot better than war. Upon hearing about the construction of the Berlin Wall. "

· "Finally, it should be clear by now that a nation can be no stronger abroad than she is at home. Only an America which practices what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be respected by those whose choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully educated its citizens is fully capable of tackling the complex problems and perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. "