John F. Kennedy Quotes and Quotation

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• A man does what he must— in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures— and that is the basis of all human morality.
  • Profiles in Courage (1956)

• 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.
  • Acceptance Speech as the Democratic presidential nominee (July 15, 1960)

• For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgement on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage… Second, were we truly men of judgement… Third, were we truly men of integrity… Finally were we truly men of dedication?
  • Speech to Massacchussetts State Legislature (January 9, 1961)

• "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."
  • Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)

• To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required— not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
  • Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)

• So let us begin anew— remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
  • Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)

• If a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
  All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
  • Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)

• 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 do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it --and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
  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."
  • Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)

• "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 in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish"
  • Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress (May 25, 1961)

• Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
  • Speech to the United Nations (September 25, 1961)

• "I wonder how it is with you, Harold? If I don't have a women for three days, I get terrible headaches."
  • Conversation with Harold Macmillan, in Bermuda (1961) as recounted by Richard Reeves in his book President Kennedy: Profile of Power (1994)

• "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie— deliberate, contrived and dishonest— but the myth— persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
  • Commencement address, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (June 11, 1962)

• "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
  • Address to Latin American diplomats at the White House (March 12, 1962)

• 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.
  • Address at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners (April 1962)

• We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of a worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth -- but neither shall we shrink from that risk any time it must be faced.
  • Radio address about the Cuban missile crisis (October 22, 1962)

• I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived— yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
  What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children— not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women— not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
  • Address at The American University, Washington D.C. (June 10, 1963)

• If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
  • Address at The American University, Washington D. C. (June 10, 1963)

• I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war— and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.
  • Address at The American University, Washington D. C. (June 10, 1963)

• To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self-restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.
  • Address at The American University, Washington D. C. (June 10, 1963)

• The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough— more than enough— of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success.
  • Address at The American University, Washington D. C. (June 10, 1963)

• Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.
  • At the signing of a charter establishing the German Peace Corps, Bonn, West Germany (June 24, 1963), more information on the reference to Dante is here at Bartleby.com

• Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.
  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."
  • Speech in Berlin (June 26, 1963); see also the Ich bin ein Berliner Speech at Wikisource.

• "When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.
  The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime, it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths."
  • Speech at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts (October 26, 1963)

• "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."
  • 1961 Address to the U.N. General Assembly

• "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."
  • Saturday Review, 29 October 1960

External links:

• Ich bin ein Berliner Speech at Wikisource
• World Peace Speech at The American University (June 10, 1963)

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