Quotes from John F. Kennedy

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

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.

The Family of Man is more than three billion strong. It lives in more than one hundred nations. Most of its members are not white. Most of them are not Christians. Most of them know nothing about free enterprise, or due process of law, or the Australian ballot.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable .. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation.

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable.

If there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.

A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.

I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war... But we have no more urgent task.

We in this country, in this generation, are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.

[War] can no longer be of concern to great powers alone.

War and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers.

With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

I am not so much concerned with the right of everyone to say anything he pleases as I am about our need as self-governing people to hear everything relevant.

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.

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.

I don't see what's wrong with giving Bobby a little experience before he starts to practise law.

If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be no help.

Don't let it be forgot, That once there was a spot -For one brief shining moment That was known as Camelot.