Quotes by Kennedy, John F.

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."

Kennedy, John F. on war
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"This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor."

Kennedy, John F. on wealth
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"A child miseducated is a child lost."

Kennedy, John F. on children
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"Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

Kennedy, John F. on life   

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

Kennedy, John F. on life   

"It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds: a Harvard education and a Yale degree."

Kennedy, John F. on colleges and universities   

"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."

Kennedy, John F. on commitment   

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

Kennedy, John F. on communism and socialism   

"We want to be first; not first if, not first but; but first!"

Kennedy, John F. on competition   

"Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all."

Kennedy, John F. on computers   

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

Kennedy, John F. on conflict
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"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."

Kennedy, John F. on conformity
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"For without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived."

Kennedy, John F. on courage   

"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of the final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy."

Kennedy, John F. on courage   

"Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is also true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on."

Kennedy, John F. on crime and criminals   

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

Kennedy, John F. on crisis   

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve itand the glow from that fire can truly light the world. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for youask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. The outcome is by no means certain. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth Gods work must truly be our own. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"For if Freedom and Communism were to compete for mans allegiance in a world at peace, I would look to the future with ever increasing confidence. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolutewhere no Catholic prelate would tell the President how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to votewhere no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preferenceand where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewishwhere no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical sourcewhere no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officialsand where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all. For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jewor a Quakeror a Unitarianor a Baptist. It was Virginias harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jeffersons statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victimbut tomorrow it may be youuntil the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril. Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday endwhere all men and all churches are treated as equalwhere every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choicewhere there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kindand where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood. That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believea great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the Nation or imposed by the Nation upon him as a condition to holding that office. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"We in this country, in this generation, areby destiny rather than choicethe watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"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 responsibilityI welcome it. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"The purpose of foreign policy is not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is to shape real events in a real world. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is requirednot because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Is this Nation stating it cannot afford to spend an additional $600 million to help the developing nations of the world become strong and free and independentan amount less than this countrys annual outlay for lipstick, face cream, and chewing gum?"

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"All my life Ive known better than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid, to let them go ahead?"

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the worldor to make it the last. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Now the trumpet summons us againnot as a call to bear arms, though arms we neednot as a call to battle, though embattled we arebut a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulationa struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will talk sense to the American people. But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"I ask that you offer to the political arena, and to the critical problems of our society which are decided therein, the benefit of the talents which society has helped to develop in you. I ask you to decide, as Goethe put it, whether you will be an anvilor a hammer. The question is whether you are to be a hammerwhether you are to give to the world in which you were reared and educated the broadest possible benefits of that education. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"So, let us not be blind to our differencesbut let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he mustin spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressuresand that is the basis of all human morality. In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his consciencethe loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow meneach man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredientthey can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"This increase in the life span and in the number of our senior citizens presents this Nation with increased opportunities: the opportunity to draw upon their skill and sagacityand 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 lifeour objective must also be to add new life to those years. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself to this audience. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised   

"Somebody once said that Washington was a city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised
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"I dont think that unless a greater effort is made by the Government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Viet-Nam, against the Communists. "

Kennedy, John F. on uncategorised