John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Quotes

• The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

• Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.

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

• When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we'd been saying they were.

• Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

• Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

• We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.

• For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.

• We need men who can dream of things that never were.

• Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

• Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

• 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.

• It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

• The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

• The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring this endeavor will light our bounty and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

• There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension. So we must do what we can with the third.

• We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.

• A man does what he must, in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures, and that is the basis of all human morality.

• 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.

• So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.