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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.

-John F. Kennedy

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If A Beach-head Of

John F. Kennedy

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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.

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I Have Said That Control Of Arms Is A Mission That We Undertake Particularly For Our Children And Our Grandchildren And That They Have No Lobby In Washington.

Now The Trumpet Summons Us Again - Not As A Call To Bear Arms, Though Arms We Need; Not As A Call To Battle, Though Embattled We Are; But A Call To Bear The Burden Of A Long Twilight Struggle, Year In And Year Out, 'rejoicing In Hope, Patient In Tribulation', A Struggle Against The Common Enemies Of Man: Tyranny, Poverty, Disease And War Itself.

Art Is The Great Democrat, Calling Forth Creative Genius From Every Sector Of Society, Disregarding Race Or Religion Or Wealth Or Color

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.

Persons Are Judged To Be Great Because Of The Positive Qualities They Possess, Not Because Of The Absence Of Faults.

We Shall Be Judged More By What We Do At Home Than What We Preach Abroad.

I Know There Is A God - I See The Storm Coming And I See His Hand In It - If He Has A Place Then I Am Ready - We See The Hand.

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.

Our Growing Softness, Our Increasing Lack Of Physical Fitness, Is A Menace To Our Security.

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

Privilege Is Here, And With Privilege Goes Responsibility.

I Suppose If You Could Have Only One Thing, It Would Be That-energy. Without It, You Haven't Got A Thing.

America Has Tossed Its Cap Over The Wall Of Space.

The Great Enemy Of The Truth Is Not The Lie, Deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest But The Myth Persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic.

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

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence.

Ethical Standards

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.

Someone Always Needs Rescuing, Yet There's Only One Person Who Ever Seems To Understand You. It's A Lot Like Being Lassie.

When Things Don't Go Well They Like To Blame Presidents; And That's Something That Presidents Are Paid For.

We Stand For Freedom. That Is Our Conviction For Ourselves; That Is Our Only Commitment To Others.

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.

Any System Of Government Will Work When Everything Is Going Well. It's The System That Functions In The Pinches That Survive

The Freedom Of The City Is Not Negotiable. We Cannot Negotiate With Those Who Say, 'what's Mine Is Mine And What's Yours Is Negotiable.'

Wherever There Is Smoke There Is A Good Smoke Machine.

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.

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.

War And Hunger And Ignorance And Despair Know No Religious Barriers.

Let Us Examine Our Attitude Toward Peace Itself. Too Many Of Us Think It Is Impossible. Too Many Think It Unreal. But That Is A Dangerous, Defeatist Belief. It Leads To The Conclusion That War Is Inevitable, That Mankind Is Doomed, That We Are Gripped By Forces We Cannot Control. We Need Not Accept That View. Our Problems Are Manmade; Therefore They Can Be Solved By Man. And Man Can Be As Big As Be Wants. No Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

We Support The Security Of Both Israel And Her Neighbors.

To Those Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected.

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.

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.

So Let Us Persevere. Peace Need Not Be Impracticable, And War Need Not Be Inevitable. By Defining Our Goal More Clearly, By Making It Seem More Manageable And Less Remote, We Can Help All Peoples To See It, To Draw Hope From It, And To Move Irresistibly Toward It.

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

Man Is Still The Most Extraordinary Computer Of All.

At The Start Of 2005 The Idea Of Downloading A Song To A Mobile Phone Was An Idea, By The End Of The Year It Was A Reality.

If More Politicians Knew Poetry, And More Poets Knew Politics, I Am Convinced The World Would Be A Little Better Place In Which To Live.

Civility Is Not A Sign Of Weakness.

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.

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

The Civil Rights Movement Should Thank God For Bull Connor. He's Helped It As Much As Abraham Lincoln.

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. There Are Some Who Say That Communism Is The Wave Of The Future. Let Them Come To Berlin. And There Are Some Who Say In Europe And Elsewhere We Can Work With The Communists. Let Them Come To Berlin. And There Are Even A Few Who Say That It Is True That Communism Is An Evil System, But It Permits Us To Make Economic Progress. Lass' Sie Nach Berlin Kommen. Let Them Come To Berlin.

I Look Forward To A Great Future For America - 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.

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

Our Alliance Is Born, Not Of Fear, But Of Hope. It Is An Alliance That Advances What We Are For, As Well As Opposes What We Are Against.

Our Labor Unions Are Not Narrow, Self-seeking Groups. They Have Raised Wages, Shortened Hours, And Provided Supplemental Benefits. Through Collective Bargaining And Grievance Procedures, They Have Brought Justice And Democracy To The Shop Floor.

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.

The Only Unchangable Certainty In Life Is That Nothing Is Unchangable Or Certain.

Certainty In Life

The Great Free Nations Of The World Must Take Control Of Our Monetary Problems If These Problems Are Not To Take Control Of Us.

While We Shall Never Weary In The Defense Of Freedom, Neither Shall We Ever Abandon The Pursuit Of Peace.

There Is No Other Airport In The World Which Serves So Many People And So Many Airplanes. This Is An Extraordinary Airport. . . It Could Be Classed As One Of The Wonders Of The Modern World.

The Greater Our Knowledge Increases The More Our Ignorance Unfolds.

Now Is The Time...for This Nation To Take A Clearly Leading Role In Space Achievement, Which In Many Ways May Hold The Key To Our Future On Earth.

Budget Deficits Are Not Caused By Wild-eyed Spenders, But By Slow Economic Growth And Periodic Recessions. And Any New Recession Would Break All Deficit Records. In Short, It Is A Paradoxical Truth That Tax Rates Are Too High Today And Tax Revenues Are Too Low, And The Soundest Way To Raise The Revenues In The Long Run Is To Cut The Rates Now.

We Believe That If Men Have The Talent To Invent New Machines That Put Men Out Of Work, They Have The Talent To Put Those Men Back To Work.

I Am The One Person Who Can Truthfully Say, I Got My Job Through The New York Times.

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.

To That World Assembly Of Sovereign States, The United Nations, Our Last Best Hope In An Age Where The Instruments Of War Have Far Outpaced The Instruments Of Peace, We Renew Our Pledge Of Support - To Prevent It From Becoming Merely A Forum For Invective - To Strengthen Its Shield Of The New And The Weak - And To Enlarge The Area In Which Its Writ May Run.

There Are No 'white' Or 'coloured' Signs On The Foxholes Or Graveyards Of Battle.

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.

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

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

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.

The World Knows That America Will Never Start A War. This Generation Of Americans Has Had Enough Of War And Hate... We Want To Build A World Of Peace Where The Weak Are Secure And The Strong Are Just.

You Have, At The Same Time, Placed Your Confidence In Me, And In My Ability To Render A Free, Fair Judgment - To Uphold The Constitution And My Oath Of Office - And To Reject Any Kind Of Religious Pressure Or Obligation That Might Directly Or Indirectly Interfere With My Conduct Of The Presidency In The National Interest.

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.

This Is Not A Time To Keep The Facts From The People-to Keep Them Complacent. To Sound The Alarm Is Not To Panic But To Seek Action From An Aroused Public. For, As The Poet Dante Once Said: 'the Hottest Places In Hell Are Reserved For Those Who, In A Time Of Great Moral Crisis, Maintain Their Neutrality.

The New And Terrible Dangers Which Man Has Created Can Only Be Controlled By Man.

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.

Only In The Case Of The Negro Has The Melting Pot Failed To Bring A Minority Into The Full Stream Of American Life.

But Goethe Tells Us In His Greatest Poem That Faust Lost The Liberty Of His Soul When He Said To The Passing Moment: "stay, Thou Art So Fair." And Our Liberty, Too, Is Endangered If We Pause For The Passing Moment, If We Rest On Our Achievements, If We Resist The Pace Of Progress. Change Is The Law Of Life. And Those Who Look Only To The Past Are Certain To Miss The Future.

Freedom Has Many Difficulties And Democracy Is Not Perfect, But We Have Never Had To Put Up A Wall To Keep Our People In.

Here On Earth, God's Work Must Surely Be Our Own.

One Of The Best Ways To Expand His Horizon Is Through A Regular Reading Program.

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

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.

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

Show Me A Man With A Great Golf Game, And I’ll Show You A Man Who Has Been Neglecting Something.

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.

Time And The World Do Not Stand Still. Change Is The Law Of Life.

Future Thinking

I Ask Particularly That Those Of You Who Are Now In School Will Prepare Yourselves To Bear The Burden Of Leadership Over The Next 40 Years Here In The United States, And Make Sure That The United States - Which I Believe Almost Alone Has Maintained Watch And Ward For Freedom - That The United States Meet Its Responsibility. That Is A Wonderful Challenge For Us As A People.

The Family Of Man Is More Than 3 Billion Strong. It Lives In More Than 100 Nations. Most Of Its Members Are Not White. Most Of Them Are Not Christians. Most Of Them Know Nothing About Free Enterprise Or Due Process Of Law Or The Australian Ballot.

The Most Ideal Approach To Advance Is The Way Of Opportunity.

There Are Three Things In Life Which Are Real: God, Human Folly And Laughter. Since The First Two Are Beyond Our Comprehension, We Must Do What We Can With The Third.

You Never Know What's Hit You. A Gunshot Is The Perfect Way.

The Final And Best Means Of Strengthening Demand Among Consumers And Business Is To Reduce The Burden On Private Income And The Deterrence To Private Initiative Which Are Imposed By Our Present Tax System, And This Administration Pledged Itself Last Summer To An Across-the-board, Top-to-bottom Cut In Personal And Corporate Income Taxes To Be Enacted And Become Effective In 1963.

If Scientific Discovery Has Not Been An Unalloyed Blessing, If It Has Conferred On Mankind The Power Not Only To Create But Also To Annihilate, It Has At The Same Time Provided Humanity With A Supreme Challenge And A Supreme Testing

As Science, Of Necessity, Becomes More Involved With Itself, So Also, Of Necessity, It Becomes More International. I Am Impressed To Know That Of The 670 Members Of This Academy

We Need Men Who Can Dream Of Things That Never Were.

Our Task Is Not To Fix Blame For The Past, But To Fix The Course For The Future.

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 God's Work Must Truly Be Our Own.

What Church I Go To On Sunday, What Dogma Of The Catholic Church I Believe In, Is My Business; And Whatever Faith Any Other American Has Is His Business.

There Is A Terrific Disadvantage In Not Having The Abrasive Quality Of The Press Applied To You Daily. Even Though We Never Like It, And Even Though We Wish They Didn't Write It, And Even Though We Disapprove, There Isn't Any Doubt That We Could Not Do The Job At All In A Free Society Without A Very, Very Active Press.

We Set Sail On This New Sea Because There Is New Knowledge To Be Gained, And New Rights To Be Won, And They Must Be Won And Used For The Progress Of All People. For Space Science, Like Nuclear Science And Technology, Has No Conscience Of Its Own. Whether It Will Become A Force For Good Or Ill Depends On Man, And Only If The United States Occupies A Position Of Preeminence Can We Help Decide Whether This New Ocean Will Be A Sea Of Peace Or A New Terrifying Theater Of War.

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.

We've Spent Half The Expenditures, We've Wrecked Our Budget On All These Other Domestic Programs, And The Only Justification For It, In My Opinion, To Do It In The Pell-mell Fashion Is Because We Hope To Beat Them And Demonstrate That Starting Behind Them, As We Did By A Couple Of Years, By God, We Passed Them. I Think It Would Be A Helluva Thing For Us.

A Rising Tide (in The Economy) Lifts All Boats.

You're In There With Me. Personally.

Forbidden Fruit Tastes Sweet, But Its Aftertaste Is Bitter.

Let Us Not Be Blind To Our Differences-but Let Us Also Direct Attention To Our Common Interests And To The Means By Which Those Differences Can Be Resolved. And If We Cannot End Our Differences, At Least We Can Help Make The World Safe For Diversity. For, In The Final Analysis, Our Most Common Link Is That We All Inhabit This Small Planet. We All Breathe The Same Air. We All Cherish Our Children's Future. And We Are All Mortal.

Anyone Who Is Honestly Seeking A Job And Can't Find It, Deserves The Attention Of The United States Government, And The People.

Where Else, In A Non-totalitarian Country, But In The Political Profession Is The Individual Expected To Sacrifice All-including His Own Career-for The National Good?

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

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.

Now Let Me Make It Clear That I Believe There Can Only Be One Defense Policy For The United States And That Is Summed Up In The Word 'first.' I Do Not Mean First, But. I Do Not Mean First, When. I Do Not Mean First, If. I Mean First - Period.

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.

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.

It Takes Two To Make Peace.

I Hear It Said That West Berlin Is Militarily Untenable - And So Was Bastogne, And So, In Fact, Was Stalingrad. Any Danger Spot Is Tenable If Men - Brave Men - Will Make It So.

A Child Miseducated Is A Child Lost.

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.

No American Is Ever Made Better Off By Pulling A Fellow American Down, And All Of Us Are Made Better Off Whenever Any One Of Us Is Made Better Off.

The Very Word 'secrecy' Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society; And We Are As A People Inherently And Historically Opposed To Secret Societies, To Secret Oaths, And To Secret Proceedings.

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.

The Very Word Secrecy Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society.

We Must Formulate, With Both Imagination And Restraint, A New Approach To The Middle East - Not Pressing Our Case So Hard That The Arabs Feel Their Neutrality And Nationalism Are Threatened ... While At The Same Time Trying To Hasten The Inevitable Arab Acceptance Of The Permanence Of Israel ... We Must ... Seek A Permanent Settlement Among Arabs And Israelis Based Not On An Armed Truce But On Mutual Self-interest.

In The Years Since Man Unlocked The Power Stored Up Within The Atom, The World Has Made Progress, Halting, But Effective, Toward Bringing That Power Under Human Control. The Challenge May Be Our Salvation. As We Begin To Master The Destructive Potentialities Of Modern Science, We Move Toward A New Era In Which Science Can Fulfill Its Creative Promise And Help Bring Into Existence The Happiest Society The World Has Ever Known.

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

There Is Always Inequity In Life. Some Men Are Killed In War And Some Men Are Wounded; Some Men Never Leave The Country, Some Men Are Stationed In The Antarctic And Some Are Stationed In San Francisco. It's Very Hard In Military Or In Personal Life To Assure Complete Equality. Life Is Unfair.

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.

Only In Winter Can You Tell Which Trees Are Truly Green. Only When The Winds Of Adversity Blow Can You Tell Whether An Individual Or A Country Has Steadfastness.

If Art Is To Nourish The Roots Of Our Culture, Society Must Set The Artist Free To Follow His Vision Wherever It Takes Him.

Above All, We Are Coming To Understand That The Arts Incarnate The Creativity Of A Free People. When The Creative Impulse Cannot Flourish, When It Cannot Freely Select Its Methods And Objects, When It Is Deprived Of Spontaneity, Then Society Severs The Root Of Art.

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 All — Except 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.

The Wave Of The Future Is Not The Conquest Of The World By A Single Dogmatic Creed But The Liberation Of The Diverse Energies Of Free Nations And Free Men.

The War Against Hunger Is Truly Mankind's War Of Liberation.

Our Children And Grandchildren Are Not Merely Statistics Towards Which We Can Be Indifferent.

I Believe In An America Where The Rights That I Have Described Are Enjoyed By All, Regardless Of Their Race Or Their Creed Or Their National Origin - Where Every Citizen Is Free To Think And Speak As He Pleases And Write And Worship As He Pleases - And Where Every Citizen Is Free To Vote As He Pleases, Without Instructions From Anyone, His Employer, The Union Leader Or His Clergyman.

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.

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?

According To The Ancient Chinese Proverb, A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Must Begin With A Single Step.

If You Look Throughout Human History ... The Central Epiphany Of Every Religious Tradition Always Occurs In The Wilderness.

Our Problems Are Man-made, Therefore They May Be Solved By Man. And Man Can Be As Big As He Wants. No Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

Politics Is Like Football; If You See Daylight, Go Through The Hole.

Motivational Sports

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

I Hope That No American Will Waste His Franchise And Throw Away His Vote By Voting Either For Me Or Against Me Solely On Account Of My Religious Affiliation. It Is Not Relevant.

As Every Past Generation Has Had To Disenthrall Itself From An Inheritance Of Truisms And Stereotypes, So In Our Own Time We Must Move On From The Reassuring Repetition Of Stale Phrases To A New, Difficult, But Essential Confrontation With Reality. For The Great Enemy Of Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie-deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest-but The Myth-persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic. Mythology Distracts Us Everywhere.

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

It Shall Be The Policy Of This Nation To Regard Any Nuclear Missile Launched From Cuba As An Attack By The Soviet Union On The United States.

Nuclear Missiles

Abroad, The Balance Of Power Is Shifting. There Are New And More Terrible Weapons - New And Uncertain Nations - New Pressures Of Population And Deprivation.

The Only Significance Of Analyzing The Past Is That It Does Give Us Some Key To The Future.

While It May Be Theoretically Possible To Demonstrate The Risks Inherent In Any Treaty... The Far Greater Risk To Our Security Are The Risks Of Unrestricted Testing, The Risks Of A Nuclear Arms Race, The Risks Of New Nuclear Powers.

What Really Counts Is Not The Immediate Act Of Courage Or Of Valor, But Those Who Bear The Struggle Day In And Day Out - Not The Sunshine Patriots But Those Who Are Willing To Stand For A Long Period Of Time.

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.

Our Responsibility Is One Of Decision, For To Govern Is To Choose.

No One Gains From Fair Employment Law And Legislation If There Is No Employment To Be Had.

A Revolution Is Coming – A Revolution Which Will Be Peaceful If We Are Wise Enough; Compassionate If We Care Enough; Successful If We Are Fortunate Enough – But A Revolution Which Is Coming Whether We Will It Or Not. We Can Affect Its Character; We Cannot Alter Its Inevitability.

The Federal Budget Can And Should Be Made An Instrument Of Prosperity And Stability, Not A Deterrent To Recovery.

Washington Is A City Of Southern Efficiency And Northern Charm.

It Is Increasingly Clear That No Matter What Party Is In Power, So Long As Our National Security Needs Keep Rising, An Economy Hampered By Restrictive Tax Rates Will Never Produce Enough Jobs Or Enough Profits.

Peace Is A Daily, A Weekly, A Monthly Process, Gradually Changing Opinions, Slowly Eroding Old Barriers, Quietly Building New Structures.

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.

History Is A Relentless Master. It Has No Present, Only The Past Rushing Into The Future. To Try To Hold Fast Is To Be Swept Aside.

Last Year, More Americans Went To Symphonies Than Went To Baseball Games. This May Be Viewed As An Alarming Statistic, But I Think That Both Baseball And The Country Will Endure.

The Great Battleground For The Defense And Expansion Of Freedom Today Is The Whole Southern Half Of The Globe... The Lands Of The Rising Peoples. Their Revolution Is The Greatest In Human History. They Seek An End To Injustice, Tyranny And Exploitation. More Than An End, They Seek A Beginning.

While They Came From A Variety Of Religious Backgrounds And Held A Wide Variety Of Religious Beliefs, Each Of Our Presidents In His Own Way Has Placed A Special Trust In God.

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

There Is A Connection, Hard To Explain Logically But Easy To Feel, Between Achievement In Public Life And Progress In The Arts.

Nor Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

Diplomacy And Defense Are Not Substitutes For One Another. Either Alone Would Fail.

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.

For In A Government Of Laws And Not Of Men, No Man, However Prominent Or Powerful, And No Mob However Unruly Or Boisterous, Is Entitled To Defy A Court Of Law. If This Country Should Ever Reach The Point Where Any Man Or Group Of Men By Force Or Threat Of Force Could Long Defy The Commands Of Our Court And Our Constitution, Then No Law Would Stand Free From Doubt, No Judge Would Be Sure Of His Writ, And No Citizen Would Be Safe From His Neighbors.

The Margin Is Narrow, But The Responsibility Is Clear.

Finally, I Believe In An America Where Religious Intolerance Will Someday End; Where All Men And All Churches Are Treated As Equal; Where Every Man Has The Same Right To Attend Or Not Attend The Church Of His Choice; Where There Is No Catholic Vote, No Anti-catholic Vote, No Bloc Voting Of Any Kind; And Where Catholics, Protestants And Jews, At Both The Lay And Pastoral Level, Will Refrain From Those Attitudes Of Disdain And Division Which Have So Often Marred Their Works In The Past, And Promote Instead The American Ideal Of Brotherhood.

The Education Of Our People Should Be A Lifelong Process By Which We Continue To Feed New Vigor Into The Lifestream Of The Nation Through Intelligent, Reasoned Decisions. Let Us Not Think Of Education Only In Terms Of Its Costs, But Rather In Terms Of The Infinite Potential Of The Human Mind That Can Be Realized Through Education. Let Us Think Of Education As The Means Of Developing Our Greatest Abilities, Because In Each Of Us There Is A Private Hope And Dream Which, Fulfilled, Can Be Translated Into Benefit For Everyone And Greater Strength For Our Nation.

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

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.

It Is For These Reasons That I Believe We Must Expand Day-care Centers And Provide Other Assistance Which I Have Recommended To The Congress. At Present, The Total Facilities Of All The Licensed Day-care Centers In The Nation Can Take Care Of Only 185,000 Children. Nearly 500,000 Children Under 12 Must Take Care Of Themselves While Their Mothers Work. This, It Seems To Me, Is A Formula For Disaster.

It Is True That My Predecessor Did Not Object, As I Do, To Pictures Of One's Golf Skill In Action. But Neither, On The Other Hand, Did He Ever Bean A Secret Serviceman.

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

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

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.

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

The Supreme Reality Of Our Time Is The Vulnerability Of Our Planet.

Justice Delayed Is Democracy Denied.

If I Don't Have A Woman Every Three Days Or So I Get A Terrible Headache.

Liberty Without Learning Is Always In Peril And Learning Without Liberty Is Always In Vain.

We Do Not Seek The Unanimity That Comes To Those Who Water Down All Issues To The Lowest Common Denominator - Or To Those Who Conceal Their Differences Behind Fixed Smiles - Or To Those Who Measure Unity By Standards Of Popularity And Affection, Instead Of Trust And Respect. We Are Allies. This Is A Partnership, Not An Empire. We Are Bound To Have Differences And Disappointments - And We Are Equally Bound To Bring Them Out Into The Open, To Settle Them Where They Can Be Settled, And To Respect Each Other's Views When They Cannot Be Settled.

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.

There Is Danger That Totalitarian Governments, Not Subject To Vigorous Popular Debate, Will Underestimate The Will And Unity Of Democratic Societies Where Vital Interests Are Concerned.

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.

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

The Labor Movement Is People. Our Unions Have Brought Millions Of Men And Women Together, Made Them Members One Of Another, And Given Them Common Tools For Common Goals. Their Goals Are Goals For All America - And Their Enemies Are The Enemies For Progress. The Two Cannot Be Separated.

A Boy Spends His Time Finding A Girl To Sleep With. A Real Man Spends His Time Looking For The One Worth Waking Up To.

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.

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

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.

Be Aware Of Danger-but Recognize The Opportunity

We In This Country, In This Generation, Areby Destiny Rather Than Choicethe Watchmen On The Walls Of World Freedom. We Ask, Therefore, That We May Be Worthy Of Our Power And Responsibility, That We May Exercise Our Strength With Wisdom And Restraint, And That We May Achieve In Our Time And For All Time The Ancient Vision Of Peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men. That Must Always Be Our Goal, And The Righteousness Of Our Cause Must Always Underlie Our Strength. For As Was Written Long Ago: Except The Lord Keep The City, The Watchman Waketh But In Vain.

I Not Only Could Not Stifle Controversy Among Your Readers.. I Welcome It. This Administration Intends To Be Candid About Its Errors; For As A Wise Man Once Said: "an Error Does Not Become A Mistake Until You Refuse To Correct It." We Intend To Accept Full Responsibility For Our Errors; And We Expect You To Point Them Out When We Miss Them.

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.

Expansion And Modernization Of The Nation's Productive Plant Is Essential To Accelerate Economic Growth And To Improve The International Competitive Position Of American Industry An Early Stimulus To Business Investment Will Promote Recovery And Increase Employment.

The Most Effective Means Of Upholding The Law Is Not The State Policeman Or The Marshals Or The National Guard. It Is You. It Lies In Your Courage To Accept Those Laws With Which You Disagree As Well As Those With Which You Agree.

While We Cannot Guarantee That We Shall One Day Be First, We Can Guarantee That Any Failure To Make This Effort Will Make Us Last.

Guarantees That

I Do Not Speak For My Church On Public Matters; And The Church Does Not Speak For Me.

As They Say On My Own Cape Cod, A Rising Tide Lifts All The Boats. And A Partnership, By Definition, Serves Both Partners, Without Domination Or Unfair Advantage. Together We Have Been Partners In Adversitylet Us Also Be Partners In Prosperity.

Israel Was Not Created In Order To Disappear. Israel Will Endure And Flourish.

The Ignorance Of One Voter In A Democracy Impairs The Security Of All.

The Problem Of Power Is How To Achieve Its Responsible Use Rather Than Its Irresponsible And Indulgent Use; Of How To Get Men Of Power To Live For The Public Rather Than Off The Public.

There Is Something That Happens When We Leave The Land And Enter The Ocean. It's Unexpected, The Environment Feels Strangely Welcoming. The Ocean Almost Feels Like... Home.

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