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.
John F. Kennedy
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
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.
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
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.
The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.
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.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.
Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.
The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.
A child miseducated is a child lost.
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.
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.
Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
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.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.
Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
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.
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.
Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
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.
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.
Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
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.
