John F. Kennedy

• "We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.“
• "The best road to progress is freedom's road.“
• "We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.“
• "It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.“
• "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.“
• "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.“
• "A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.“
• "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 goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.“
• "Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.“
• "It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.“
• "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.“
• "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.“
• "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.“
• "Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.“
• "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.“
• "The best road to progress is freedom's road.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.“
• "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 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.“
• "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.“
• "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.“
• "The pay is good and I can walk to work.“
• "My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.“
• "It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.“
• "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.“
• "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 great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.“
• "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.“
• "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!“
• "History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.“
• "If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.“
• "We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times.“
• "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.“
• "The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.“
• "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.“
• "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.“
• "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.“
• "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.“
• "Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.“
• "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 nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.“
• "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.“
• "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 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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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!'“
• "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.“
• "Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.“
• "Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.“
• "It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.“
• "Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.“
• "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 - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.“
• "Politics is like football if you see daylight, go through the hole.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.“
• "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 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.“
• "We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.“
• "Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place.“
• "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.“
• "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.“
• "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.“
• "If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.“
• "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.“
• "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 - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.“
• "We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.“
• "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.“
• "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.“
• "Mankind must put an end to war before war puts 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.“
• "The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.“
• "Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.“
• "It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.“
• "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 - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.“
• "When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.“
• "The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "The pay is good and I can walk to work.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.“

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