Quotes by John F. Kennedy
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We cannot be satisfied with things as they are. We cannot be satisfied to drift, to rest on our oars, to glide over a sea whose depths are shaken by subterranean upheavals.

The American Labor Movement has consistently demonstrated its devotion to the public interest. It is, and has been, good for all America.

Anyone who is honestly seeking a job and can't find it, deserves the attention of the United States government, and the people.

The United States of America has no intention of finishing second in space. This effort is expensive-but it pays its way for freedom and for America.

We cannot reform the world.... Uncle Sugar is as dangerous a role for us to play as Uncle Shylock.

Football today is far too much a sport for the few who can play it well; the rest of us, and too many of our children, get out exercise from climbing up the seats in stadiums, or from walking across the room to turn on our television sets.

I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high -- to permit the customary passions of political debate.

The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.

Acting on our own, by ourselves, we cannot establish justice throughout the world, but joined with other free nations, we can ... assist the developing nations to throw off the yoke of poverty.

A journey to Thousand miles begins with one step.

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.

Philanthropy, charity, giving voluntarily and freely... call it what you like, but it is truly a jewel of an American tradition.

The fact that we live in a world that moves crisis by crisis does not make a growing interest in outdoor activities frivolous, or ample provision for them unworthy of the nation's concern.

When you have seven percent unemployed, you have ninety-three percent working.

We are under exercised as a nation. We look instead of play. We ride instead of walk. Our existence deprives us of the minimum of physical activity essential for healthy living.

For plague and pestilence, plunder and pollution, the hazards of nature and the hunger of children are the foes of every nation. The earth, the sea and the air are the concern of every nation.

First I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon.

Expansion and modernization of the nation's productive plant is essential to accelerate economic growth and to improve the international competitive position of American industry An early stimulus to business investment will promote recovery and increase employment.

Our national conservation effort must include the complete spectrum of resources: air, water, and land; fuels, energy, and minerals; soils, forests, and forage; fish and wildlife. Together they make up the world of nature which surrounds us- of the American heritage.

The earth, the sea and air are the concern of every nation. And science, technology, and education can be the ally of every nation.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, we have always felt that there was a close relationship between a strong, vital mind and physical fitness.

Every dollar released from taxation that is spared or invested will help create a new job and a new salary.

I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty.

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.

I know there is a God -- I see the storm coming and I see his hand in it -- if he has a place then I am ready -- we see the hand.

Real men stay faithful. They don't have time to look for other women because they're too busy looking for new ways to love their own.

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?

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States.

Israel was not created in order to disappear. Israel will endure and flourish.

Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave.

O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.

Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.

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

In that case, there is no time to lose. Plant it this afternoon!

Courage -- judgment -- integrity -- dedication -- these are the historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State....And these are the qualities which, with God's help, this son of Massachusetts hopes will characterize our government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead.

Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a democratic legislative body, accurately represented the nation.

Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons -- new and uncertain nations -- new pressures of population and deprivation.

The margin is narrow, but the responsibility is clear.

You can milk a cow the wrong way once and still be a farmer, but vote the wrong way on a water tower and you can be in trouble.

Let us not despair but act. 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.

Now, as never before, hundreds of millions of men and women-who had formerly believed that stoic resignation in the face of hunger and disease and darkness was the best one could could do-have come alive with a new sense that the means are at hand with which to make for themselves a better life.

Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope; and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.

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

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

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Today our concern must be with the future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.

The stories of past courage can define that ingredient- they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot provide courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.

So, let us not be blind to our differences- but let us also direct our attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.

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

The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation's greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable.

The 1930s, Kennedy said, 'taught us a clear lesson; aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.

Our progress as a nation can be not swifter than our progress in education.

It is when the politician loves neither the public good nor himself, or when his love for himself is limited and is satisfied by the trappings of office, that the public interest is badly served.

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

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.

When power narrows the areas of a man's concerns, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence.

The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of the nation, is close to the center of a nation's purpose -- and is a test to the quality of a nation's civilization.

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop those talents.

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.

But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because freedom is incomplete. (John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963, American University speech).

Things don't just happen. They are made to happen.

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

When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

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

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

Great crisis produce great men and great deeds of courage.

Time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life.

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

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.

Just because we cannot see clearly te end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.

Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable .. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient, that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind, that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every adversity, and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.

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.

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.

Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

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.

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.

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

Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.

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.

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

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.

I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.

Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Commencement Address at Yale University, June 11 1962.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

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.

Each success brings with it the potential of failure and each failure brings with it the potential of success.

My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.