John F. Kennedy Quotes

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

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, "hold office"; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.

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.

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.

A child miseducated is a child lost.

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

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.

The supreme reality of our time is the vulnerability of our planet.

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.

There is, in addition to a courage with which men die; a courage by which men must live.

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

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

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

probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.

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

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.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

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

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

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

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 God's work must truly be our own.

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.

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.

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

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask 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.

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.

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

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.

The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history.

When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.

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.

If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.

Peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.