Authors - John F. Kennedy
Brief Biography
Elected in 1960 as the 35th president of the United States, 43-year-old John F. Kennedy became the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic to hold that office. He was born into one of America's wealthiest families and parlayed an elite education and a reputation as a military hero into a successful run for Congress in 1946 and for the Senate in 1952. As president, Kennedy confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. His assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, sent shockwaves around the world and turned the all-too-human Kennedy into a larger-than-life heroic figure. To this day, historians continue to rank him among the best-loved presidents in American history. - History
Quotes by John F. KennedyBrowse all of these
Quote 1014by Anonymous on 09/01/2011
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, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Quote 1089by Anonymous on 10/01/2011
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Quote 1151by Anonymous on 10/01/2011
We need men who can dream of things that never were.
Quote 1544by Anonymous on 14/01/2011
Happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
Quote 1584by Anonymous on 14/01/2011
For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.
Quote 1643by Anonymous on 15/01/2011
Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.
Quote 1915by Anonymous on 19/01/2011
When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we'd been saying they were.
Quote 1925by Anonymous on 19/01/2011
We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.
Quote 1928by Anonymous on 19/01/2011
We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution.
Quote 1942by Anonymous on 19/01/2011
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
Quote 2166by Anonymous on 24/01/2011
Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
Quote 2385by Anonymous on 28/01/2011
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
Quote 2386by Anonymous on 28/01/2011
There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension. So we must do what we can with the third.
Quote 2729by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.
Quote 2767by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
No easy problem ever comes to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them.
Quote 2808by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny.
Quote 2929by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
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.
Quote 3093by Anonymous on 03/02/2011
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
Quote 3254by Anonymous on 05/02/2011
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
Quote 3356by Anonymous on 05/02/2011
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer.
Quote 3896by Anonymous on 12/02/2011
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.
Quote 3930by Anonymous on 12/02/2011
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
Quote 4168by Anonymous on 15/02/2011
Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
Quote 4217by Anonymous on 18/02/2011
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring this endeavor will light our bounty and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
Quote 4495by Anonymous on 22/02/2011
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.
Quote 4537by Anonymous on 23/02/2011
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.
Quote 4813by Anonymous on 01/03/2011
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.
Quote 4842by Anonymous on 01/03/2011
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
Quote 5579by Anonymous on 22/07/2011
Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
Quote 5803by Anonymous on 29/08/2011
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Quote 6164by Anonymous on 14/09/2011
The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.
Quote 7179by Anonymous on 27/10/2011
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
Quote 7355by Anonymous on 04/11/2011
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, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.
Quote 7561by Anonymous on 22/12/2011
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.
Quote 7718by Anonymous on 30/01/2012
Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.
Quote 9661by Anonymous on 14/08/2012
It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.
Quote 9733by Anonymous on 17/08/2012
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.
Quote 9735by Anonymous on 17/08/2012
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Quote 9749by Anonymous on 21/08/2012
My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.
Quote 10177by Anonymous on 16/09/2012
If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
Quote 10520by Anonymous on 09/10/2012
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.
Quote 10566by Anonymous on 11/10/2012
We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.
Quote 10582by Anonymous on 11/10/2012
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
Quote 10619by Anonymous on 13/10/2012
Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.
Quote 10998by Anonymous on 14/11/2012
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Quote 11035by Anonymous on 17/11/2012
When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
Quote 11510by Anonymous on 06/01/2013
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Quote 11548by Anonymous on 09/01/2013
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
Quote 11712by Anonymous on 17/01/2013
The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.
Quote 11945by Anonymous on 03/02/2013
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
Quote 11982by Anonymous on 10/02/2013
There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
Quote 12119by Anonymous on 04/03/2013
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.
Quote 12357by Anonymous on 30/03/2013
Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.
Quote 12713by Anonymous on 15/05/2013
History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
Quote 12749by Anonymous on 17/05/2013
We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained.
