John F. Kennedy quotes:

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

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.

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital... the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.

The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.

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

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.

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

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

Why should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction and expenditure?

Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.

Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.

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

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For 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.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

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

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

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.

In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant.

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

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

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

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 the success of liberty.

Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

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

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.

We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.

The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate... we want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just.

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.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

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.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

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.

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

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

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal.

The human mind is our fundamental resource.

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

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

We stand today on the edge of a new frontier - the frontier of the 1960's - a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils - a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

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.

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

To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust.

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

There are many people in the world who really don't understand-or say they don't-what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin!

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

I think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it.

We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.

Mankind must put an end to war - or war will put an end to mankind.[Address before the United Nations, September 25 1961]

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.[Commencement Address at American University, June 10 1963]

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.[Commencement Address at American University, June 10 1963]

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.[Inaugural Address, January 20 1961]

It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.[Quoted by Theodore Sorensen in 'Kennedy']"

Bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. Weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us...No longer is the quest for disarmament a sign of weakness, (nor) the destruction of arms a dream - it is a practical matter of life or death. The risks inherent in disarmament pale in comparison to the risks inherent in an unlimited arms race.

No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.

For without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived.

What really counts is not the immediate act of courage or of valor, but those who bear the struggle day in and day out - not the sunshine patriots but those who are willing to stand for a long period of time.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.

I had always enjoyed the title of Commander-in-Chief until I was informed ... that the only forces that cannot be transferred from Washington without my express permission are the members of the Marine Corps Band. Those are the only forces I have. I want it announced that we propose to hold the White House against all odds at least for some time to come.

If (my grandfather) hadn't left, I'd be working over here at the Albatross Company.

When I was growing up I had three wishes. I wanted to be a Lindbergh-type hero, learn Chinese, and become a member of The Algonquin Round Table.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.

By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education.... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments.

American history is not something dead and over. It is always alive,always growing, always unfinished.

For a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians remain probably the least understood and most misunderstood Americans of us all.

The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.

Word to the Nation: Guard zealously your right to serve in the Armed Forces, for without them, there will be no other rights to guard.

Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.

Automation does not need to be our enemy. I think machines can make life easier for men, if men do not let the machines dominate them.

We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

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

Peaceful circulation has been interupted by barbed wire and concrete blocks. For a city or a people to be truly free, they must have the secure right, without economic, political or police pressure, to make their own choices and live their own lives.

Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.

We are inclined to think that if we watch a football game or a baseball game, we have taken part in it.

To be courageous requires no exceptional qualifications, no magic formula, no special combination of time, place, and circumstance. It is an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to us all.

If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's.

The processes of growth are gradual, bearing fruit in a decade, not a day.

What's the use of being Irish if the world doesn't break your heart?

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

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

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.

I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises.

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.

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

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats. And a partnership, by definition, serves both partners, without domination or unfair advantage. Together we have been partners in adversitylet us also be partners in prosperity.

America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.

The only unchangable certainty in life is that nothing is unchangable or certain.

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?

According to the ancient Chinese proverb, A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act. I do not speak for my church on public matters - and the church does not speak for me.

I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.

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

So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof

Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.

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

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

Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

Richard Cromwell was not fit to wear the mantle of his uncle.