Inspiring Quotes by John F. Kennedy - Page 2

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"Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place"

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

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining"

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life"

"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"

"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"

"I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide"

"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others"

"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"

"We stand today on the edge of a new frontier - the frontier of the 1960's - a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils - a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats"

"We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination"

"A child miseducated is a child lost"

"When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were"

"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"

"I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant"

"I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times"

"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"

"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"

"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"

"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"

"We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth"

"It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war"

"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 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"

"Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger's skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas"

"In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there"

"The pay is good and I can walk to work"

"The United States has to move very fast to even stand still"

"No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle"

"The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds"

"Sure it's a big job; but I don't know anyone who can do it better than I can"

"The best road to progress is freedom's road"

"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!""

"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"

"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"

"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"

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other"

"I'm an idealist without illusions"

"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 think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it"

"I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic"

"Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing"

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity"

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures"

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