John F. Kennedy Quotes

“Irrational barriers and ancient prejudices fall quickly when the question of survival itself is at stake.”

“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.”

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

“My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.”

“Aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.”

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

“We must live our lives in such a way that our children, and their children after them, will form a natural and lasting commitment to the vigorous life. Only in this way can we be assured that the spirit and strength of America will be constantly replenished.”

“There's an old saying. Never send a boy to do a man's job, send a lady.”

“Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past. - They deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.”

“[High income tax rates] not only check consumption but discourage investment and encourage...the avoidance of taxes [rather] than the production of goods.[...]Our present tax system...reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.”

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

“We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.”

“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.”

“I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable - and so was Bastogne, and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any danger spot is tenable if men - brave men - will make it so.”

“You know nothing for sure...except the fact that you know nothing for sure.”

“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.”

“Any danger spot is tenable if men, brave men, will make it so.”

“There is no city in the United States in which I can get a warmer welcome and fewer votes than Columbia, Ohio.”

“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.”

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”

“Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process-a way of solving problems.”