And if we are to open employment opportunities in this country for members of all races and creeds, then the Federal Government must set an example. The President himself must set the key example. I am not going to promise a Cabinet post or any other post to any race or ethnic group. That is racism in reverse at its worst. So I do not promise to consider race or religion in my appointments if I am successful. I promise only that I will not consider them.
—John F. Kennedy
There is too little public recognition of how much we all depend upon farmers as stewards of our soil, water and wildlife resources.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Water
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Revolutions, Revolution, Violence, Revolutionaries, Peace
Lobbyists are in many cases expert technicians and capable of explaining complex and difficult subjects in a clear, understandable fashion. They engage in personal discussions with Members of Congress in which they can explain in detail the reasons for positions they advocate. Because our congressional representation is based on geographical boundaries, the lobbyists who speak for the various economic, commercial, and other functional interests of this country serve a very useful purpose and have assumed an important role in the legislative process.
—John F. Kennedy
One person can make a difference and every person should try.
—John F. Kennedy
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Conflict
My brother Bob doesn’t want to be in government—he promised Dad he’d go straight.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Politics
A police state finds that it cannot command the grain to grow.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Tyranny
In free society art is not a weapon. Artists are not engineers of the soul.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Art, Arts, Engineering, Artists
It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Wildlife, Nature
There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Risk-taking
A child miseducated is a child lost.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Society, Children
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Beginnings, Beginning
There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a New Frontier for American art.
—John F. Kennedy
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.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Wilderness
The day before my inauguration President Eisenhower told me, “You’ll find that no easy problems ever come to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them.” I found that hard to believe, but now I know it is true.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Problems
True happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Excellence, Happiness
Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Communication
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.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Adversity, Attitude, Difficulties, Trouble, Opportunities, Opportunity
For if Freedom and Communism were to compete for mans allegiance in a world at peace, I would look to the future with ever increasing confidence.
—John F. Kennedy
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life, I find.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Aspirations, Life, Goals, Expectation
It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Peace, War
First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. I believe we should go to the moon. But there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful.
—John F. Kennedy
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is also true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Crime, Criminals
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Government
The purpose of foreign policy is not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is to shape real events in a real world.
—John F. Kennedy
If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to allexcept the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.
—John F. Kennedy
Experience is like tail-lights on a boat, which illuminate where we have been when we should be focusing on where we should be going.
—John F. Kennedy
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 Gods work must truly be our own.
—John F. Kennedy
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.
—John F. Kennedy
Topics: Opportunity, Danger
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Robert F. Kennedy American Politician
- Lyndon B. Johnson American Head of State
- Richard Nixon American Head of State
- Herbert Hoover American Statesman
- Jimmy Carter American Head of State
- Ronald Reagan American Head of State
- Hubert Humphrey American Head of State
- John Quincy Adams American Head of State
- George H. W. Bush American Head of State
- Dwight D. Eisenhower American Head of State
Leave a Reply