Quotes from Jean Kennedy Smith

I think there should be a reason tor people to be interviewed. For me, there's no real reason.

I can say without reservation that I do not remember a day in our childhood without laughter.

But I believe Ireland is getting more European, and the young are looking toward Europe for jobs - just as there are a lot of Europeans coming to Dublin.

We all grew up in Bronxville, I went to Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart - in the old location on Convent Avenue - and I've lived here since 1962. I couldn't feel more like a New Yorker.

On behalf of all Americans, I would like to congratulate Michelle Smith on her dedication and determination which have made her a wonderful role model for all young athletes in Ireland and around the world.

I don't know why people always think of the Kennedys as a Boston family.

The Irish people were willing to take me at face value, to give me the benefit of the doubt because I was a Kennedy. I think being a Kennedy was extremely helpful.

As I've grown older, I have begun to marvel... at how much of my life I have spent among ghosts. These are no malevolent presences... Rather, they are such restless spirits as only the strange twentieth-century cocktail of celebrity, technology and collective memory could produce.

It has always been my understanding that all official expenses for the U.S. ambassador's residence in Dublin have been approved by the State Department.

I never sat down and said, 'Now I must make a contribution, that one person can make a difference.' But I felt I was in a position where I could contribute. I never thought of it in the light of history or my brothers. I just felt I had an obligation.

Even though I was there through it all, it is hard for me to comprehend that I was growing up with brothers who would eventually occupy the highest offices of our nation, including president of the United States.

Dad encouraged us to get jobs. He'd help us get a job if we knew what we wanted.

I have always encouraged open and frank discussion among embassy employees and the expression of dissenting views, because this is the best way to maintain morale among embassy personnel and to arrive at sensible decisions which are in the best interests of the United States.