John F. Kennedy Quotes

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction. The pay is good and I can walk to work. Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. We must use time as a tool, not as a couch. Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. 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. The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. 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. Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others. I’m an idealist without illusions. In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life. The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” Libraries should be open to all, except the censor. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives. 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. We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For 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. Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes… can no longer be of concern to great powers alone. We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or make it the last. The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable. There is, in addition to a courage with which men die; a courage by which men must live. The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. Life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met—obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty. If not us, who? If not now, when? 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.

John F. Kennedy

1917 - 1963