John F. Kennedy quotes - page 5

President Roosevelt and President Truman and President Eisenhower had the same experience, they all made the effort to get along with the Russians. But every time, finally it failed. And the reason it failed was because the Communists are determined to destroy us, and regardless of what hand of friendship we may hold out or what arguments we may put up, the only thing that will make that decisive difference is the strength of the United States. (John F. Kennedy)
Where nature makes natural allies of us all, we can demonstrate that beneficial relations are possible even with those with whom we most deeply disagree-and this must someday be the basis of world peace and world law.
John F. Kennedy
We celebrate the past to awaken the future.
John F. Kennedy
The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history. Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive.
John F. Kennedy
I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world.
John F. Kennedy
The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.
John F. Kennedy
My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.
John F. Kennedy
First, what does truth require? It requires us to face the facts as they are, not to involve ourselves in self-deception; to refuse to think merely in slogans. If we are to work for the future of the city, let us deal with the realities as they actually are, not as they might have been, and not as we wish they were.
John F. Kennedy
The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.
John F. Kennedy
We can say with some assurance that, although children may be the victims of fate, they will not be the victims of our neglect.
John F. Kennedy
A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war. (John F. Kennedy)
After visiting these places, you can easily understand how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for his country which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.
John F. Kennedy
O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.
John F. Kennedy
There is danger that totalitarian governments, not subject to vigorous popular debate, will underestimate the will and unity of democratic societies where vital interests are concerned.
John F. Kennedy
This knowledge, the knowledge that the physical well-being of the citizen is an important foundation for the vigor and vitality of all the activities of the nation, is as old as Western civilization itself.
John F. Kennedy
While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.
John F. Kennedy
There are indications because of new inventions, that 10, 15, or 20 nations will have a nuclear capacity, including Red China, by the end of the Presidential office in 1964. This is extremely serious... I think the fate not only of our own civilization, but I think the fate of world and the future of the human race, is involved in preventing a nuclear war.
John F. Kennedy
For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.
John F. Kennedy
There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.... I'm the responsible officer of the Government.
John F. Kennedy
If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.
John F. Kennedy
For the unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion. (John F. Kennedy)
And if there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.
John F. Kennedy
The deadly arms race, and the huge resources it absorbs, have too long overshadowed all else we must do. We must prevent that arms race from spreading to new nations, to new nuclear powers and to the reaches of outer space.
John F. Kennedy
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.
John F. Kennedy
Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the government; and a President and a Congress who hold each other in mutual respect will neither permit nor attempt any trespass.
John F. Kennedy