Quotes from John F. Kennedy

The science of weapons and war has made us all one world and one human race with one common destiny

I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past and which will build handsome and balanced cities for our future.

National parks and reserves are an integral aspect of intelligent use of natural resources. It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today.

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.

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.

Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.

No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.

Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.

Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.

Conformity is that jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

Yesterday, a shaft of light cut into the darkness…. For the first time, an agreement has been reached on bringing the forces of nuclear destruction under international control.

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.

We're heading into nut country today.

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. But let us begin.

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.

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

It was involuntary. They sank my boat.

There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country… Life is unfair.

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. [Address before the United Nations, September 25 1961]

For without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived.

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.