Background Image

...

I Really Don't Know Why It Is That All Of Us Are So Committed To The Sea, Except I Think It Is Because In Addition To The Fact That The Sea Changes And The Light Changes, And Ships Change, It Is Because We All Came From The Sea. And It Is An Interesting Biological Fact That All Of Us Have, In Our Veins The Exact Same Percentage Of Salt In Our Blood That Exists In The Ocean, And, Therefore, We Have Salt In Our Blood, In Our Sweat, In Our Tears. We Are Tied To The Ocean. And When We Go Back To The Sea, Whether It Is To Sail Or To Watch It We Are Going Back From Whence We Came.

-John F. Kennedy

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Really Don't Know

John F. Kennedy

...

I Really Don't Know Why It Is That All Of Us Are So Committed To The Sea, Except I Think It Is Because In Addition To The Fact That The Sea Changes And The Light Changes, And Ships Change, It Is Because We All Came From The Sea. And It Is An Interesting Biological Fact That All Of Us Have, In Our Veins The Exact Same Percentage Of Salt In Our Blood That Exists In The Ocean, And, Therefore, We Have Salt In Our Blood, In Our Sweat, In Our Tears. We Are Tied To The Ocean. And When We Go Back To The Sea, Whether It Is To Sail Or To Watch It We Are Going Back From Whence We Came.

Views: 5

Topic

More From John F. Kennedy

I Believe In An America ... Where No Public Official Either Requests Or Accepts Instructions On Public Policy From The Pope, The National Council Of Churches, Or Any Other Ecclesiastical Source.

Few Nations Do More Than The United States To Assist Their Least Fortunate Citizens-to Make Certain That No Child, No Elderly Or Handicapped Citizen, No Family In Any Circumstances In Any State, Is Left Without The Essential Needs For A Decent And Healthy Existence. In Too Few Nations, I Might Add, Are The People Aware Of The Progressive Strides This Country Has Taken In Demonstrating The Humanitarian Side Of Freedom. Our Record Is A Proud One-and It Sharply Refutes Those Who Accuse Us Of Thinking Only In The Materialistic Terms Of Cash Registers And Calculating Machines.

For I Can Assure You That We Love Our Country, Not For What It Was, Though It Has Always Been Great - Not For What It Is, Though Of This We Are Deeply Proud - But For What It Someday Can, And, Through The Efforts Of Us All, Someday Will Be.

The Only Valid Test Of Leadership Is The Ability To Lead, And Lead Vigorously.

Any Danger Spot Is Tenable If Men, Brave Men, Will Make It So.

The Pay Is Good And I Can Walk To Work.

The Present Tax Codes Inhibit The Mobility And Formation Of Capital, Add Complexities And Inequities Which Undermine The Morale Of The Taxpayer, And Make Tax Avoidance Rather Than Market Factors A Prime Consideration In Too Many Economic Decisions.

Those [presidents] Who Were Strongest Intellectually Were Also Strongest Spiritually.

I Am Grateful To Those Members Of Congress Who Worked So Diligently To Guide The Equal Pay Act Through. It Is A First Step. It Affirms Our Determination That When Women Enter The Labor Force They Will Find Equality In Their Pay Envelopes.

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.

I Am Fully Aware Of The Fact That The Democratic Party, By Nominating Someone Of My Faith, Has Taken On What Many Regard As A New And Hazardous Risk.

Change Is The Law Of Life. And Those Who Look Only To The Past Or Present Are Certain To Miss The Future.

In Our Democracy Every Young Person Should Have An Equal Opportunity To Obtain A Higher Education, Regardless Of His Station In Life Or Financial Means.

We Cannot Reform The World.... Uncle Sugar Is As Dangerous A Role For Us To Play As Uncle Shylock.

The Kennedy Administration's Public Pronouncements On The Matter Suggested That The Presence Of Soviet Nuclear Missiles In Castro's Cuba Would Represent An Unacceptable Strategic Threat To The United States. . . . This Urgent Transformation Of Cuba Into An Important Strategic Base - By The Presence Of These Large, Long-range, And Clearly Offensive Weapons Of Sudden Mass-destruction - Constitutes An Explicit Threat To The Peace And Security Of All The Americas. . . .

Mass Destruction

We Will Neglect Our Cities To Our Peril, For In Neglecting Them We Neglect The Nation.

Remember That Our Nation's First Great Leaders Were Also Our First Great Scholars.

An Economy Hampered By Restrictive Tax Rates Will Never Produce Enough Jobs Or Enough Profits

Those Who Do Nothing Are Inviting Shame As Well As Violence. Those Who Act Boldly Are Recognizing Right As Well As Reality.

Peace Is A Process, A Way Of Solving Problems

Problem Solving

We Can Have Faith In The Future Only If We Have Faith In Ourselves.

Political Sovereignty Is But A Mockery Without The Means Of Meeting Poverty And Illiteracy And Disease. Self-determination Is But A Slogan If The Future Holds No Hope.

To Those Peoples In The Huts And Villages Of Half The Globe Struggling To Break The Bonds Of Mass Misery, We Pledge Our Best Efforts To Help Them Help Themselves, For Whatever Period Is Required - Not Because The Communists May Be Doing It, Not Because We Seek Their Votes, But Because It Is Right. If A Free Society Cannot Help The Many Who Are Poor, It Cannot Save The Few Who Are Rich.

Unless Liberty Flourishes In All Lands, It Cannot Flourish In One.

Effort And Courage Are Not Enough Without Purpose And Direction.

The Great French Marshall Lyautey Once Asked His Gardener To Plant A Tree. The Gardner Objected That The Tree Was Slow Growing And Wouldn't Reach Maturity For 100 Years. The Marshall Replied, "in That Case, There Is No Time To Lose; Plant It This Afternoon!

Nuclear Weapons Are So Destructive And Ballistic Missiles Are So Swift, That Any Substantially Increased Possibility Of Their Use Or Any Sudden Change In Their Deployment May Well Be Regarded As A Definite Threat To Peace.

Aggressive Conduct, If Allowed To Go Unchecked And Unchallenged, Ultimately Leads To War.

We Must Recognize That Every Nation Determines Its Policies In Terms Of Its Own Interests.

I See No Magic In Tax Dollars Which Are Sent To Washington And Then Returned. I Abhor The Waste And Incompetence Of Large-scale Federal Bureaucracies In This Administration As Well As In Others. I Do Not Favor State Compulsion When Voluntary Individual Effort Can Do The Job And Do It Well.

Individual Effort

The Men Who Create Power Make An Indispensable Contribution To The Nation's Greatness. But The Men Who Question Power Make A Contribution Just As Indispensable For They Determine Whether We Use Power Or Power Uses Us.

We Believe That When Men Reach Beyond This Planet, They Should Leave Their National Differences Behind Them.

If I Had To Live My Life Over Again, I Would Have A Different Father, A Different Wife And A Different Religion.

We Also Need The Provisions In The Tax Bill That Will Permit Working Mothers To Increase The Deduction From Income Tax Liability For Costs Incurred In Providing Care For Their Children While The Mothers Are Working. In October The Commission On The Status Of Women Will Report To Me. This Problem Should Have A High Priority, And I Think That Whatever We Leave Undone This Year We Must Move On This In January.

I Know My Republican Friends Were Glad To See My Wife Feeding An Elephant In India. She Gave Him Sugar And Nuts. But Of Course The Elephant Wasn't Satisfied.

If There Is One Path Above All Others To War, It Is The Path Of Weakness And Disunity.

We Must Face The Fact That The United States Is Neither Omnipotent Nor Omniscient, That We Cannot Impose Our Will Upon The Other 94 Percent Of Mankind, That We Cannot Right Every Wrong Or Reverse Every Adversity, And That Therefore There Cannot Be An American Solution To Every World Problem.

To State The Facts Frankly Is Not To Despair The Future Nor Indict The Past. The Prudent Heir Takes Careful Inventory Of His Legacies And Gives A Faithful Accounting To Those Whom He Owes An Obligation Of Trust.

Philanthropy, Charity, Giving Voluntarily And Freely... Call It What You Like, But It Is Truly A Jewel Of An American Tradition.

The Jewish People, Ever Since David Slew Goliath, Have Never Considered Youth As A Barrier To Leadership.

The Rights Of Every Man Are Diminished When The Rights Of One Man Are Threatened.

We Cannot Be Satisfied With Things As They Are. We Cannot Be Satisfied To Drift, To Rest On Our Oars, To Glide Over A Sea Whose Depths Are Shaken By Subterranean Upheavals.

Our Problems Are Man-made, Therefore They May Be Solved By Man

My Fellow Americans, Let Us Take That First Step. Let Us...step Back From The Shadow Of War And Seek Out The Way Of Peace. And If That Journey Is A Thousand Miles, Or Even More, Let History Record That We, In This Land, At This Time, Took The First Step.

Most Cities Are Nouns. New York's A Verb.

Automation Does Not Need To Be Our Enemy. I Think Machines Can Make Life Easier For Men, If Men Do Not Let The Machines Dominate Them.

The Function And Responsibility Of The President Is To Set Before The American People The Unfinished Business, The Things We Must Do If We Are Going To Succeed As A Nation.

Unfinished Business

I Had Always Enjoyed The Title Of Commander-in-chief Until I Was Informed ... That The Only Forces That Cannot Be Transferred From Washington Without My Express Permission Are The Members Of The Marine Corps Band. Those Are The Only Forces I Have. I Want It Announced That We Propose To Hold The White House Against All Odds At Least For Some Time To Come.

The True Democracy, Living And Growing And Inspiring, Puts Its Faith In The People - Faith That The People Will Not Simply Elect Men Who Will Represent Their Views Ably And Faithfully, But Will Also Elect Men Who Will Exercise Their Conscientious Judgment - Faith That The People Will Not Condemn Those Whose Devotion To Principle Leads Them To Unpopular Courses, But Will Reward Courage, Respect Honor, And Ultimately Recognize Right.

Don't Pray For An Easy Life, Pray To Be A Stronger Man.

Life Being Hard

It Is An Unfortunate Fact That We Can Secure Peace Only By Preparing For War.

If A Beach-head Of Cooperation May Push Back The Jungle Of Suspicion, Let Both Sides Join In Creating A New Endeavor, Not A New Balance Of Power, But A New World Of Law, Where The Strong Are Just And The Weak Secure And The Peace Preserved. 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.

We Have All Seen These Circus Elephants Complete With Tusks, Ivory In Their Head And Thick Skins, Who Move Around The Circus Ring And Grab The Tail Of The Elephant Ahead Of Them.

Malthus Argued A Century And A Half Ago That Man, By Using Up All His Available Resources, Would Forever Press On The Limits Of Subsistence, Thus Condemning Humanity To An Indefinite Future Of Misery And Poverty. We Can Now Begin To Hope And, I Believe, Know That Malthus Was Expressing Not A Law Of Nature, But Merely The Limitation Then Of Scientific And Social Wisdom. The Truth Or Falsity Of His Prediction Will Depend Now, With The Tools We Have, On Our Own Actions, Now And In The Years To Come.

Many Years Ago The Great British Explorer George Mallory, Who Was To Die On Mount Everest, Was Asked Why Did He Want To Climb It. He Said Because It Is There. Well, Space Is There, And Were Going To Climb It, And The Moon And The Planets Are There, And New Hopes For Knowledge And Peace Are There.

I Have A Nice Home, The Office Is Close By, And The Pay Is Good.

We Hold The View That The People Make The Best Judgment In The Long Run.

Modern Cynics And Skeptics... See No Harm In Paying Those To Whom They Entrust The Minds Of Their Children A Smaller Wage Than Is Paid To Those To Whom They Entrust The Care Of Their Plumbing.

A Child Miseducated Is A Child Lost.

For Plague And Pestilence, Plunder And Pollution, The Hazards Of Nature And The Hunger Of Children Are The Foes Of Every Nation. The Earth, The Sea And The Air Are The Concern Of Every Nation.

This Country Cannot Afford To Be Materially Rich And Spiritually Poor.

All Free Men, Wherever They May Live, Are Citizens Of Berlin. And Therefore, As A Free Man, I Take Pride In The Words 'ich Bin Ein Berliner!'

There Are Many People In The World Who Really Don't Understand-or Say They Don't-what Is The Great Issue Between The Free World And The Communist World. Let Them Come To Berlin!

The Deadly Arms Race, And The Huge Resources It Absorbs, Have Too Long Overshadowed All Else We Must Do. We Must Prevent That Arms Race From Spreading To New Nations, To New Nuclear Powers And To The Reaches Of Outer Space.

Let Both Sides Seek To Invoke The Wonders Of Science Instead Of Its Terrors. Together Let Us Explore The Stars, Conquer The Deserts, Eradicate Disease, Tap The Ocean Depths, And Encourage The Arts And Commerce.

Let Us Welcome Controversial Books And Controversial Authors.

There Can Be No Progress If People Have No Faith In Tomorrow.

To Further The Appreciation Of Culture Among All The People, To Increase Respect For The Creative Individual, To Widen Participation By All The Processes And Fulfillments Of Artthis Is One Of The Fascinating Challenges Of These Days.

It Is A Paradoxical Truth That Tax Rates Are Too High And Tax Revenues Are Too Low And The Soundest Way To Raise The Revenues In The Long Run Is To Cut The Rates Now Cutting Taxes Now Is Not To Incur A Budget Deficit, But To Achieve The More Prosperous, Expanding Economy Which Can Bring A Budget Surplus.

Sincerity Is Always Subject To Proof.

Just Because We Cannot See Clearly Te End Of The Road, That Is No Reason For Not Setting Out On The Essential Journey.

Disarmament Without Checks Is But A Shadow - And A Community Without Law Is But A Shell.

It Is In The American Tradition To Stand Up For One's Rights--even If The New Way To Stand Up For One's Rights Is To Sit Down.

You Know Nothing For Sure...except The Fact That You Know Nothing For Sure.

To Exclude From Positions Of Trust And Command All Those Below The Age Of 44 Would Have Kept Jefferson From Writing The Declaration Of Independence, Washington From Commanding The Continental Army, Madison From Fathering The Constitution, Hamilton From Serving As Secretary Of The Treasury, Clay From Being Elected Speaker Of The House And Christopher Columbus From Discovering America.

Our National Conservation Effort Must Include The Complete Spectrum Of Resources: Air, Water, And Land; Fuels, Energy, And Minerals; Soils, Forests, And Forage; Fish And Wildlife. Together They Make Up The World Of Nature Which Surrounds Us- Of The American Heritage.

I Think It Is Appropriate That We Pay Tribute To This Great Constitutional Principle Which Is Enshrined In The First Amendment Of The Constitution: The Principle Of Religious Independence, Of Religious Liberty, Of Religious Freedom.

The Greeks Understood That Mind And Body Must Develop In Harmounious Proportions To Produce A Creative Intelligence.

Never Let Your Fears Hold You Back From Pursuing Your Hopes.

Peaceful Circulation Has Been Interupted By Barbed Wire And Concrete Blocks. For A City Or A People To Be Truly Free, They Must Have The Secure Right, Without Economic, Political Or Police Pressure, To Make Their Own Choices And Live Their Own Lives.

It Is Extremely Important That Adequate Provision Be Made For Reasonable Levels Of Income To Them, For The Care Of The Children Which They Must Leave At Home Or In School, And For Protection Of The Family Unit. One Of The Prime Objectives Of The Commission On The Status Of Women, Which I Appointed 18 Months Ago, Is To Develop A Program To Accomplish These Purposes.

Failure Has No Friends.

Ask Not What Your Community Can Do For You; Ask What Your Community Can Not Do For Anyone Else.

The Republican Nominee-to-be, Of Course, Is Also A Young Man. But His Approach Is As Old As Mckinley. His Party Is The Party Of The Past. His Speeches Are Generalities From Poor Richard's Almanac. Their Platform, Made Up Of Left-over Democratic Planks, Has The Courage Of Our Old Convictions. Their Pledge Is A Pledge To The Status Quo-and Today There Can Be No Status Quo.

In Serving His Vision Of The Truth, The Artist Best Serves His Nation.

Our Present Tax System ... Exerts Too Heavy A Drag On Growth ... It Reduces The Financial Incentives For Personal Effort, Investment, And Risk-taking ... The Present Tax Load ... Distorts Economic Judgments And Channels An Undue Amount Of Energy Into Efforts To Avoidtaxliabilities.

While We Shall Negotiate Freely, We Shall Not Negotiate Freedom.

... The United States Was Not Built By Those Who Waited And Rested And Wished To Look Behind Them. This Country Was Conquered By Those Who Moved Forward, And So Will Space.

All Of Us In The Senate Live In An Iron Lung-the Iron Lung Of Politics, And It Is No Easy Task To Emerge From That Rarified Atmosphere In Order To Breathe The Same Fresh Air Our Constituents Breathe.

Our Most Basic Common Link Is That We All Inhabit This Small Planet.

In A Time Of Domestic Crisis, Men Of Goodwill And Generosity Should Be Able To Unite Regardless Of Party Or Politics.

For To Save Mankind's Future Freedom, We Must Face Up To Any Risk That Is Necessary. We Will Always Seek Peace - But We Will Never Surrender.

No Government Or Social System Is So Evil That Its People Must Be Considered As Lacking In Virtue.

The High Office Of The President Has Been Used To Foment A Plot To Destroy The American's Freedom And Before I Leave Office, I Must Inform The Citizens Of This Plight.

No Man Who Enters Upon The Office To Which I Have Succeeded Can Fail To Recognize How Every President Of The United States Has Placed Special Reliance Upon His Faith In God.

We Are Tied To The Ocean. And When We Go Back To The Sea, Whether It Is To Sail Or To Watch - We Are Going Back From Whence We Came.

Immigration Policy Should Be Generous; It Should Be Fair; It Should Be Flexible. With Such A Policy We Can Turn To The World, And To Our Own Past, With Clean Hands And A Clear Conscience.

The White House Was Designed By Hoban, A Noted Irish-american Architect, And I Have No Doubt That He Believed By Incorporating Several Features Of The Dublin Style He Would Make It More Homelike For Any President Of Irish Descent. It Was A Long Wait, But I Appreciate His Efforts.

If We Fail To Encourage Physical Development And Prowess, We Will Undermine Our Capcity For Thought, For Work, And For Use Of Those Skills Vital To An Expanding And Complex America.

In A Very Real Sense, It Will Not Be One Man Going To The Moon It Will Be An Entire Nation. For All Of Us Must Work To Put Him There.

Compromise Does Not Mean Cowardice.

Those Who Dare To Fail Miserably Can Achieve Greatly.

I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant Nor Jewish; Where No Public Official Either Requests Or Accepts Instructions On Public Policy From The Pope, The National Council Of Churches Or Any Other Ecclesiastical Source; Where No Religious Body Seeks To Impose Its Will Directly Or Indirectly Upon The General Populace Or The Public Acts Of Its Officials; And Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

But Why, Some Say, The Moon? Why Choose This As Our Goal? And They May Well Ask; Why Climb The Highest Mountain? Why, 35 Years Ago, Fly The Atlantic? Why Does Rice Play Texas?

Whatever The Political Affiliation Of Our Next President, Whatever His Views May Be On All The Issues And Problems That Rush In Upon Us, He Must Above All Be The Chief Executive In Every Sense Of The Word.

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.

The New Frontier Of Which I Speak Is Not A Set Of Promises, It Is A Set Of Challenges. It Sums Up Not What I Intend To Offer The American People, But What I Intend To Ask Of Them.

Life Isn't Fair. In Never Was And Never Will Be.

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, Because That Goal Will Serve To Organize And Measure The Best Of Our Energies And Skills, Because That Challenge Is One That We Are Willing To Accept, One We Are Unwilling To Postpone, And One Which We Intend To Win.

The Stories Of Past Courage... Can Offer Hope, They Can Provide Inspiration. But They Cannot Supply Courage Itself. For This Each Man Must Look Into His Own Soul.

Our Way Of Life Is Under Attack. Those Who Make Themselves Our Enemy Are Advancing Around The Globe. The Survival Of Our Friends Is In Danger. And Yet No War Has Been Declared, No Borders Have Been Crossed By Marching Troops, No Missiles Have Been Fired.

The United States Has To Move Very Fast To Even Stand Still.

I Do Not Say That All Men Are Equal In Their Ability, Character And Motivation. I Do Say That Every American Should Be Given A Fair Chance To Develop All The Talents They May Have.

Be Strong And Of Good Courage; Be Not Afraid, Neither Be Thou Dismayed.

I Am Sorry To Say That There Is Too Much Point To The Wisecrack That Life Is Extinct On Other Planets Because Their Scientists Were More Advanced Than Ours.

I Look Forward To An America In Which Commands Respect Throughout The World, Not Only For Its Strength, But For Its Civilization As Well. And I Look Forward To A World In Which We Will Be Safe Not Only For Democracy And Diversity But Also For Personal Distinction.

I Believe In An America Where The Separation Of Church And State Is Absolute - Where No Catholic Prelate Would Tell The President (should He Be Catholic) How To Act, And No Protestant Minister Would Tell His Parishoners For Whom To Vote - Where No Church Or Church School Is Granted Any Public Funds Or Political Preference - And Where No Man Is Denied Public Office Merely Because His Religion Differs From The President Who Might Appoint Him Or The People Who Might Elect Him.

The United States, As The World Knows, Will Never Start A War.

I Have Asked The Secretary Of The Treasury To Report By April 1 On Whether Present Tax Laws May Be Stimulating In Undue Amounts The Flow Of American Capital To The Industrial Countries Abroad Through Special Preferential Treatment.

Wherever There Is Smoke There Is A Good Smoke Machine.

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. Let Both Sides Explore What Problems Unite Us Instead Of Belaboring Those Problems Which Divide Us.

We Had A Dog Who Was Named Pushinka, Who Was Given To My Father By A Soviet Official. And We Trained That Dog To Slide Down The Slide We Had In The Back Of The White House. Sliding The Dog Down That Slide Is Probably My First Memory.

When We Got Into Office, The Thing That Surprised Me Most Was To Find That Things Were Just As Bad As We'd Been Saying They Were.

There Is, In Addition To A Courage With Which Men Die; A Courage By Which Men Must Live.

The United States Of America Has No Intention Of Finishing Second In Space. This Effort Is Expensive-but It Pays Its Way For Freedom And For America.

In Seeking The Help Of The Congress And Our Countrymen, I Pledged No Easy Answers. I Pledged, And Asked, Only Toil And Dedication. These The Congress And The People Have Given In Good Measure.

Should I Become President...i Will Not Risk American Lives...by Permitting Any Other Nation To Drag Us Into The Wrong War At The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time Through An Unwise Commitment That Is Unwise Militarily, Unnecessary To Our Security And Unsupported By Our Allies.

A Tax Cut Means Higher Family Income And Higher Business Profits And A Balanced Federal Budget.

First, What Does Truth Require? It Requires Us To Face The Facts As They Are, Not To Involve Ourselves In Self-deception; To Refuse To Think Merely In Slogans. If We Are To Work For The Future Of The City, Let Us Deal With The Realities As They Actually Are, Not As They Might Have Been, And Not As We Wish They Were.

Freedom Is Indivisible, And When One Man Is Enslaved, All Are Not Free.

Dont Teach My Boy Poetry, An English Mother Recently Wrote The Provost Of Harrow. Dont Teach My Boy Poetry; He Is Going To Stand For Parliament. Well, Perhaps She Was Rightbut If More Politicians Knew Poetry, And More Poets Knew Politics, I Am Convinced The World Would Be A Little Better Place To Live On This Commencement Day Of 1956.

We Dare Not Forget That We Are The Heirs Of That First Revolution.

It Was Involuntary. They Sank My Boat.

Leadership And Learning Are Indispensable To Each Other.

The Greeks Understood That Mind And Body Must Develop In Harmonious Proportions To Produce A Creative Intelligence. And So Did The Most Brilliant Intelligence Of Our Earliest Days - Thomas Jefferson - When He Said, Not Less Than Two Hours A Day Should Be Devoted To Exercise. If The Man Who Wrote The Declaration Of Independence, Was Secretary Of State, And Twice President, Could Give It Two Hours, Our Children Can Give It Ten Or Fifteen Minutes.

I Want Every American To Be Free To Stand Up For His Rights, Even If Sometimes He Has To Sit Down For Them.

I Will Splinter The Cia Into A Thousand Pieces And Scatter It Into The Winds.

The Lower The Family Income, The Higher The Probability That The Mother Must Work. Today, 1 Out Of 5 Of These Working Mothers Has Children Under 3. Two Out Of 5 Have Children Of School Age. Among The Remainder, About 50 Percent Have Husbands Who Earn Less Than $5,000 A Year-many Of Them Much Less. I Believe They Bear The Heaviest Burden Of Any Group In Our Nation. Where The Mother Is The Sole Support Of The Family, She Often Must Face The Hard Choice Of Either Accepting Public Assistance Or Taking A Position At A Pay Rate Which Averages Less Than Two-thirds Of The Pay Rate For Men.

Probably The Greatest Concentration Of Talent And Genius In This House Except For Perhaps Those Times When Thomas Jefferson Ate Alone.

I Believe In An America Where Religious Intolerance Will Someday End... Where Every Man Has The Same Right To Attend Or Not Attend The Church Of His Choice.

A Wall Is A Hell Of A Lot Better Than A War.

And So, My Fellow Americans: Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You - Ask What You Can Do For Your Country. My Fellow Citizens Of The World: Ask Not What America Will Do For You, But What Together We Can Do For The Freedom Of Man.

Life In Freedom Is Not Easy, And Democracy Is Not Perfect.

The American Presidency Will Demand More Than Ringing Manifestos Issued From The Rear Of The Battle. It Will Demand That The President Place Himself In The Very Thick Of The Fight; That He Care Passionately About The Fate Of The People He Leads .

This Is Not The Land Of My Birth, But It Is The Land For Which I Hold The Greatest Affection, And I Certainly Will Come Back In The Springtime

I Believe In An America Where The Separation Of Church And State Is Absolute - Where No Catholic Prelate Would Tell The President (should He Be Catholic) How To Act. I Do Not Speak For My Church On Public Matters - And The Church Does Not Speak For Me.

Everywhere Immigrants Have Enriched And Strengthened The Fabric Of American Life.

It Might Be Said Now That I Have The Best Of Both Worlds. A Harvard Education And A Yale Degree.

The Physical Fitness Of Our Citizens Is A Vital Prerequisite To America's Realization Of Its Full Potential As A Nation, And To The Opportunity Of Each Individual Citizen To Make Full And Fruitful Use Of His Capacities.

I Think When We Talk About Corporal Punishment, And We Have To Think About Our Own Children, And We Are Rather Reluctant, It Seems To Me, To Have Other People Administering Punishment To Our Own Children, Because We Are Reluctant, It Puts A Special Obligation On Us To Maintain Order And To Send Children Out From Our Homes Who Accept The Idea Of Discipline. So I Would Not Be For Corporal Punishment In The School, But I Would Be For Very Strong Discipline At Home So We Don't Place An Unfair Burden On Our Teachers.

I Ask That You Offer To The Political Arena, And To The Critical Problems Of Our Society Which Are Decided Therein, The Benefit Of The Talents Which Society Has Helped To Develop In You. I Ask You To Decide, As Goethe Put It, Whether You Will Be An Anvilor A Hammer. The Question Is Whether You Are To Be A Hammerwhether You Are To Give To The World In Which You Were Reared And Educated The Broadest Possible Benefits Of That Education.

If Somebody Harbours Delusions, I Think That Should Disqualify Them From Office, Regardless Whether The Delusions Are Religious. Letting Someone Who Thinks The God Jehovah Will Bail Him Out Serve In Public Office Is Like Letting A Man Who Believes In Santa Claus Run A Toys 'r Us. The Great Enemy Of The Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie - Deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest, But The Myth, Persistent, Persuasive, And Unrealistic. Belief In Myths Allows The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

Not Every Child Has An Equal Talent Or An Equal Ability Or Equal Motivation, But They Should Have The Equal Right To Develop Their Talent And Their Ability And Their Motivation, To Make Something Of Themselves.

The Greater Our Knowledge Increases The More Our Ignorance Unfolds.

Those Who Came Before Us Made Certain That This Country Rode The First Waves Of The Industrial Revolution, The First Waves Of Modern Invention And The First Wave Of Nuclear Power. And This Generation Does Not Intend To Founder In The Backwash Of The Coming Age Of Space. We Mean To Be Part Of It-we Mean To Lead It.

Economic Growth Without Social Progress Lets The Great Majority Of The People Remain In Poverty, While A Privileged Few Reap The Benefits Of Rising Abundance.

My Experience In Government Is That When Things Are Non-controversial And Beautifully Coordinated, There Is Not Much Going On.

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 Relationship Between The Soundness Of The Body And The Activities Of The Mind Is Subtle And Complex. Much Is Not Yet Understood. But We Do Know What The Greeks Knew: That Intelligence And Skill Can Only Function At The Peak Of Their Capacity When The Body Is Healthy And Strong; That Hardy Spirits And Tough Minds Usually Inhabit Sound Gods.

Real Men Stay Faithful. They Don't Have Time To Look For Other Women Because They're Too Busy Looking For New Ways To Love Their Own.

When Power Corrupts, Poetry Cleanses

A Committee Is Twelve Men Doing The Work Of One.

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. No Single Space Project...will Be More Exciting, Or More Impressive To Mankind, Or More Important...and None Will Be So Difficult Or Expensive To Accomplish.

The Processes Of Growth Are Gradual, Bearing Fruit In A Decade, Not A Day.

Just As I Went Into Politics Because Joe Died, If Anything Happened To Me Tomorrow, My Brother Bobby Would Run For My Seat In The Senate. And If Bobby Died, Teddy Would Take Over For Him.

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.

Let Us Make It Clear That We Will Never Turn Our Backs On Our Steadfast Friends In Israel, Whose Adherence To The Democratic Way Must Be Admired By All Friends Of Freedom.

Mr. Nixon Has, In The Last Seven Days, Called Me An Economic Ignoramus, A Pied Piper, And All The Rest. I've Just Confined Myself To Calling Him A Republican. But He Says That Is Getting Low.

It Should Be Clear By Now That A Nation Can Be No Stronger Abroad Than She Is At Home. Only An America Which Practices What It Preaches About Equal Rights And Social Justice Will Be Respected By Those Whose Choice Affects Our Future. Only An America Which Has Fully Educated Its Citizens Is Fully Capable Of Tackling The Complex Problems And Perceiving The Hidden Dangers Of The World In Which We Live. And Only An America Which Is Growing And Prospering Economically Can Sustain The Worldwide Defenses Of Freedom, While Demonstrating To All Concerned The Opportunities Of Our System And Society.

There Are Risks And Costs To Action. But They Are Far Less Than The Long Range Risks Of Comfortable Inaction.

We Are Confronted Primarily With A Moral Issue... Whether All Americans Are To Be Afforded Equal Rights And Equal Opportunities, Whether We Are Going To Treat Our Fellow Americans As We Want To Be Treated.

Peace Does Not Rest In Charters And Covenants Alone. It Lies In The Hearts And Minds Of The People.

We Must Never Forget That Art Is Not A Form Of Propaganda; It Is A Form Of Truth.

And So It Is That I Carry With Me From This State To That High And Lonely Office To Which I Now Succeed More Than Fond Memories And Fast Friendships. The Enduring Qualities Of Massachusetts - The Common Threads Woven By The Pilgrim And The Puritan, The Fisherman And The Farmer, The Yankee And The Immigrant - Will Not Be And Could Not Be Forgotten In The Nations Executive Mansion. They Are An Indelible Part Of My Life, My Convictions, My View Of The Past, My Hopes For The Future.

The Guiding Principle Of This Nation Has Been, Is Now, And Ever Shall Be In God We Trust.

Guiding Principles

Anyone Who Can Solve The Problems Of Water Will Be Worthy Of Two Nobel Prizes - One For Peace And One For Science.

In The Dark Days And Darker Nights When England Stood Alone-and Most Men Save Englishmen Despaired Of England's Life-he [churchill] Mobilized The English Language And Sent It Into Battle.

Partnership Is Not A Posture But A Process-a Continuous Process That Grows Stronger Each Year As We Devote Ourselves To Common Tasks.

Whether I Serve One Or Two Terms In The Presidency, I Will Find Myself At The End Of That Period At What Might Be Called The Awkward Age-too Old To Begin A New Career And Too Young To Write My Memoirs.

A Medical Revolution Has Extended The Life Of Our Elder Citizens Without Providing The Dignity And Security Those Later Years Deserve.

While Much Remains To Be Done To Achieve Full Equality Of Economic Opportunity-for The Average Woman Worker Earns Only 60 Percent Of The Average Wage For Men-this Legislation Is A Significant Step Forward.

I Believe The American People Are More Concerned With A Man's Views And Abilities Than With The Church To Which He Belongs. I Believe The Founding Fathers Meant It When They Provided In Article Vi Of The Constitution That There Should Be No Religious Test For Public Office. And I Believe That The American People Mean To Adhere To Those Principles Today.

Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

Let Both Sides Explore What Problems Unite Us Instead Of Belaboring Those Problems Which Divide Us.

Let Us Resolve To Be Masters, Not The Victims, Of Our History, Controlling Our Own Destiny Without Giving Way To Blind Suspicions And Emotions.

Man Will Be What He Was Born To Be: Free And Independent.

Be Aware Of Danger-but Recognize The Opportunity

So Long As Freedom From Hunger Is Only Half Achieved, So Long As Two Thirds Of The Nations Have Food Deficits, No Citizen, No Nation Can Afford To Be Satisfied. We Have The Ability, As Members Of The Human Race, We Have The Means, We Have The Capacity To Eliminate Hunger From The Face Of The Earth In Our Lifetime. We Only Need The Will.

There Is Too Little Public Recognition Of How Much We All Depend Upon Farmers As Stewards Of Our Soil, Water And Wildlife Resources.

There Are Indications Because Of New Inventions, That 10, 15, Or 20 Nations Will Have A Nuclear Capacity, Including Red China, By The End Of The Presidential Office In 1964. This Is Extremely Serious. I Think The Fate Not Only Of Our Own Civilization, But I Think The Fate Of World And The Future Of The Human Race, Is Involved In Preventing A Nuclear War.

If We Are To Go Only Halfway Or Reduce Our Sights In The Face Of Difficulty... It Would Be Better To Not Go At All.

[war] Can No Longer Be Of Concern To Great Powers Alone.

My Fellow Americans, Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.

This Knowledge, The Knowledge That The Physical Well-being Of The Citizen Is An Important Foundation For All Of The Activities Of The Nation, Is As Old As Western Civilization Itself.

If By A "liberal," They Mean Someone Who Looks Ahead And Not Behind, Someone Who Welcomes New Ideas Without Rigid Reactions, Someone Who Cares About The Welfare Of The People - Their Health, Their Housing, Their Schools, Their Jobs, Their Civil Rights, And Their Civil Liberties - Someone Who Believes That We Can Break Through The Stalemate And Suspicions That Grip Us In Our Policies Abroad, If That Is What They Mean By A "liberal," Then I'm Proud To Say That I'm A "liberal."

Sometimes Party Loyalty Asks Too Much.

For While This Year It May Be A Catholic Against Whom The Finger Of Suspicion Is Pointed, In Other Years It Has Been, And May Someday Be Again, A Jew— Or A Quaker Or A Unitarian Or A Baptist. It Was Virginia's Harassment Of Baptist Preachers, For Example, That Helped Lead To Jefferson's Statute Of Religious Freedom. Today I May Be The Victim, But Tomorrow It May Be You — Until The Whole Fabric Of Our Harmonious Society Is Ripped At A Time Of Great National Peril.

But I Think It Is Also Important That We Pay Tribute And Acknowledge Another Great Principle, And That Is The Principle Of Religious Conviction. Religious Freedom Has No Significance Unless It Is Accompanied By Conviction.

Ask Not That The Journey Be Easy; Ask Instead That It Be Worth It.

A Journey To Thousand Miles Begins With One Step

Art Establishes The Basic Human Truths Which Must Serve As The Touchstone Of Our Judgement.

Trending Author

Category