John F. Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy Quotes

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.

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Give me the scorn of the stars and a peak defiant;
Wail of the pines and a wind with the shout of a giant;
Night and a trail unknown and a heart reliant.

Give me to live and love in the old, bold fashion;
A soldier's billet at night and a soldier's ration;
A heart that leaps to the fight with a soldier's passion.

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