Quotes from John F. Kennedy

The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country. My citizens of the world. Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Do not pray for easy lives my friends, pray to be stronger man!

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. [State of the Union Address January 11 1962]

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

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.

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. 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 morality.

I look forward to a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose

The supreme reality of our time is the vulnerability of our planet.

The most powerful single force in the world today is neither Communism nor Capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile -- it is man's eternal desire to be free and independent.

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find. [Quoted by Theodore Sorensen in 'Kennedy']