John F. Kennedy > Quotes

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
― John F. Kennedy

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
― John F. Kennedy

“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”
― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
― John F. Kennedy

“If you make peaceful revolution impossible you make violent revolution inevitable”
― John F. Kennedy

“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Libraries should be open to all - except the censor.”
― John F. Kennedy

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
― John F. Kennedy

“To those whom much is given, much is expected.”
― John F. Kennedy, Uncommon Wisdom of John F. Kennedy: A Portrait in His Own Words

“We should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate”
― John F. Kennedy

“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
― John F. Kennedy

“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
― John F. Kennedy

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
― John F. Kennedy

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Liberty without Learning is always in peril and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.”
― John F. Kennedy

“No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
― John F. Kennedy

“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”
― John F. Kennedy

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”
― John F. Kennedy

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Mankind MUST put an end to war, or war WILL put and end to mankind”
― John F. Kennedy

“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. ”
― John F. Kennedy

“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, 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. 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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that 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”
― John F. Kennedy

“I'm an idealist without illusions.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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. ”
― John F. Kennedy

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.”
― John F. Kennedy

“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days . . .nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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 and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote -- where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference -- and 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 Jewish -- where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source -- where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials -- and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

“Whether they be young in spirit, or young in age, the members of
the Democratic Party must never lose that youthful zest for new
ideas and for a better world, which has made us great.”
― John F. Kennedy

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
― John F. Kennedy

“I look forward to 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”
― John F. Kennedy

“A child miseducated is a child lost.”
― John F. Kennedy

“There is, in addition to a courage with which men die; a courage by which men must live.”
― John F. Kennedy

“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.”
― John F. Kennedy

“The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.”
― John F. Kennedy

“An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.”
― John F. Kennedy

“probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Above all, we are coming to understand that the arts incarnate the creativity of a free people. When the creative impulse cannot flourish, when it cannot freely select its methods and objects, when it is deprived of spontaneity, then society severs the root of art.”
― John F. Kennedy

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

“The most powerful single force in the world today is neither Communism nor Capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile -- it is man's eternal desire to be free and independent.”
― John F. Kennedy