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The Voters Selected Us, In Short, Because They Had Confidence In Our Judgement And Our Ability To Exercise That Judgement From A Position Where We Could Determine What Were Their Own Best Interest, As A Part Of The Nation's Interest.

-John F. Kennedy

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The Voters Selected Us,

John F. Kennedy

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The Voters Selected Us, In Short, Because They Had Confidence In Our Judgement And Our Ability To Exercise That Judgement From A Position Where We Could Determine What Were Their Own Best Interest, As A Part Of The Nation's Interest.

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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.

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

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.

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

Je Me Sens Vraiment Entre Amis. (i Feel That I Am Truly Among Friends.)

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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

We Do Not Want An Official State Church. If Ninety-nine Percent Of The Population Were Catholics, I Would Still Be Opposed To It. I Do Not Want Civil Power Combined With Religious Power. I Want To Make It Clear That I Am Committed As A Matter Of Deep Personal Conviction To Separation.

Whatever One's Religion In His Private Life May Be, For The Officeholder, Nothing Takes Precedence Over His Oath To Uphold The Constitution And All Its Parts - Including The First Amendment And The Strict Separation Of Church And State.

I Am Not So Much Concerned With The Right Of Everyone To Say Anything He Pleases As I Am About Our Need As A Self-governing People To Hear Everything Relevant.

There Is An Old Saying That The Course Of Civilization Is A Race Between Catastrophe And Education. In A Democracy Such As Ours, We Must Make Sure That Education Wins The Race.

In A World Of Danger And Trial, Peace Is Our Deepest Aspiration, And When Peace Comes We Will Gladly Convert Not Our Swords Into Plowshares, But Our Bombs Into Peaceful Reactors, And Our Planes Into Space Vessels. "pursue Peace," The Bible Tells Us, And We Shall Pursue It With Every Effort And Every Energy That We Possess. But It Is An Unfortunate Fact That We Can Secure Peace Only By Preparing For War.

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.

Whether They Be Young In Spirit, Or Young In Age, The Members Of The Democratic Party Must Never Lose That Youthful Zest For New Ideas And For A Better World, Which Has Made Us Great.

The Earth, The Sea And Air Are The Concern Of Every Nation. And Science, Technology, And Education Can Be The Ally Of Every Nation.

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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.

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

The Time Is Not Far Off When Many Nations In Many Parts Of The World Of Many Political Shades And Commitments Will Possess Nuclear Or Even Thermonuclear Weapons.

The World Has Been Close To War Before - But Now Man, Who Has Survived All Previous Threats To His Existence, Has Taken Into His Mortal Hands The Power To Exterminate The Entire Species Some Seven Times Over.

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

A Man May Die, Nations May Rise And Fall, But An Idea Lives On.

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.

The Goal Of Education Is The Advancement Of Knowledge And The Dissemination Of Truth.

Failure Has No Friends.

Each Increase Of Tension Has Produced An Increase Of Arms; Each Increase Of Arms Has Produced An Increase Of Tension.

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.

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

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The Ancient Greek Definition Of Happiness Was The Full Use Of Your Powers Along Lines Of Excellence.

Compromise Does Not Mean Cowardice.

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

No Responsibility Of Government Is More Fundamental Than The Responsibility Of Maintaining The Highest Standard Of Ethical Behavior For Those Who Conduct The Public Business.

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

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Privilege Is Here, And With Privilege Goes Responsibility.

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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!'

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American History Is Not Something Dead And Over. It Is Always Alive,always Growing, Always Unfinished.

American History

For Without Belittling The Courage With Which Men Have Died, We Should Not Forget Those Acts Of Courage With Which Men Have Lived.

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

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Those Whom Nature Hath So Joined Together, Let No Man Put Asunder

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We Go Into Space Because Whatever Mankind Must Undertake, Free Men Must Fully Share.

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.

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All Of Us Do Not Have Equal Talent, But All Of Us Should Have An Equal Opportunity To Develop Our Talent.

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Man Is Still The Most Extraordinary Computer Of All.

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Nearly Forty Years Ago, A Distinguished Prime Minister Of This Country ... Said, 'they May Not Be Angels But They Are At Least Our Friends.'* I Must Say That I Do Not Think That We Probably Demonstrated In That Forty Years That We Are Angels Yet, But I Hope We Have Demonstrated That We Are At Least Friends.

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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.

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

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The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence.

Ethical Standards

Our Nation Is Founded On The Principal That Observance Of The Law Is The Eternal Safeguard Of Liberty And Defiance Of The Law Is The Surest Road To Tyranny.

If We Are Strong, Our Strength Will Speak For Itself. If We Are Weak, Words Will Be Of No Help.

This Government, As Promised, Has Maintained The Closest Surveillance Of The Soviet Military Buildup On The Island Of Cuba. Within The Past Week, Unmistakable Evidence Has Established The Fact That A Series Of Offensive Missile Sites Is Now In Preparation On That Imprisoned Island. The Purpose Of These Bases Can Be None Other Than To Provide A Nuclear Strike Capability Against The Western Hemisphere.

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 .

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.

Let Every Nation Know, Whether It Wishes Us Well Or Ill, That We Shall Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden, Meet Any Hardship, Support Any Friend, Oppose Any Foe To Assure The Survival And The Success Of Liberty.

Food Is Strength, And Food Is Peace, And Food Is Freedom, And Food Is A Helping Hand To People Around The World Whose Good Will And Friendship We Want.

This Increase In The Life Span And In The Number Of Our Senior Citizens Presents This Nation With Increased Opportunities: The Opportunity To Draw Upon Their Skill And Sagacityand The Opportunity To Provide The Respect And Recognition They Have Earned. It Is Not Enough For A Great Nation Merely To Have Added New Years To Lifeour Objective Must Also Be To Add New Life To Those Years.

Peace Need Not Be Impracticable, And War Need Not Be Inevitable.

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

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.

But Colonialism In Its Harshest Forms Is Not Only The Exploitation Of New Nations By Old, Of Dark Skins By Light, Or The Subjugation Of The Poor By The Rich. My Nation Was Once A Colony, And We Know What Colonialism Means; The Exploitation And Subjugation Of The Weak By The Powerful, Of The Many By The Few, Of The Governed Who Have Given No Consent To Be Governed, Whatever Their Continent, Their Class, Their Color.

Our Privileges Can Be No Greater Than Our Obligations. The Protection Of Our Rights Can Endure No Longer Than The Performance Of Our Responsibilities.

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

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.

The Complacent, The Self-indulgent, The Soft Societies Are About To Be Swept Away With The Debris Of History.

And Only The Very Courageous Will Be Able To Keep Alive The Spirit Of Individualism And Dissent Which Gave Birth To This Nation, Nourished It As An Infant, And Carried It Through Its Severest Tests Upon The Attainment Of Its Maturity.

Conformity Is The Jailer Of Freedom And The Enemy Of Growth.

And Lastly, Chairman Khrushchev Has Compared The United States To A Worn-out Runner Living On Its Past Performance, And Stated That The Soviet Union Would Out-produce The United States By 1970. Without Wishing To Trade Hyperbole With The Chairman, I Do Suggest That He Reminds Me Of The Tiger Hunter Who Has Picked A Place On The Wall To Hang The Tiger's Skin Long Before He His Caught The Tiger. This Tiger Has Other Ideas.

History Will Never Accept Difficulties As An Excuse.

With All Of The History Of War, And The Human Race's History Unfortunately Has Been A Good Deal More War Than Peace, With Nuclear Weapons Distributed All Through The World, And Available, And The Strong Reluctance Of Any People To Accept Defeat, I See The Possibility In The 1970's Of The President Of The United States Having To Face A World In Which 15 Or 20 Or 25 Nations May Have These Weapons.

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

Certainty In Life

You're In There With Me. Personally.

The Farmer Is The Only Man In Our Economy Who Buys Everything At Retail, Sells Everything At Wholesale, And Pays The Freight Both Ways.

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.

We Stand Today On The Edge Of A New Frontier.

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

Every President Has Taken Comfort And Courage When Told...that The Lord "will Be With Thee. He Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee. Fear Not-neither Be Thou Dismayed."

Intelligence And Skill Can Only Function At The Peak Of Their Capacity When The Body Is Healthy And Strong.

Democracy Is Never A Final Achievement. It Is A Call To An Untiring Effort.

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.

The Complacent, The Self-indulgent, The Soft Societies Are About To Be Swept Away With The Debris Of History. Only The Strong, Only The Industrious, Only The Determined, Only The Courageous, Only The Visionary Who Determine The Real Nature Of Our Struggle Can Possibly Survive.

I Was Never Accepted Into Certain Parts Of New England Society Because My Grandfather Was An Irish Barkeep.

I Am The Man Who Accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy To Paris, And I Have Enjoyed It.

Do Not Pray For Easy Lives. Pray To Be Stronger Men.

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

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

There's An Old Saying. Never Send A Boy To Do A Man's Job, Send A Lady.

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.

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.

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

Voters Are More Than Catholics, Protestants Or Jews. They Make Up Their Minds For Many Diverse Reasons, Good And Bad. To Submit The Candidates To A Religious Test Is Unfair Enough - To Apply It To The Voters Is Divisive, Degrading And Wholly Unwarranted.

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.

United, There Is Little We Cannot Do In A Host Of Cooperative Ventures. Divided, There Is Little We Can Do-for We Dare Not Meet A Powerful Challenge At Odds And Split Asunder.

Effort And Courage Are Not Enough Without Purpose And Direction.

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

Football Today Is Far Too Much A Sport For The Few Who Can Play It Well; The Rest Of Us, And Too Many Of Our Children, Get Out Exercise From Climbing Up The Seats In Stadiums, Or From Walking Across The Room To Turn On Our Television Sets.

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

Peace Is A Process, A Way Of Solving Problems

Problem Solving

There Is, Of Course, A Legitimate Argument For Some Limitation Upon Immigration. We No Longer Need Settlers For Virgin Lands, And Our Economy Is Expanding More Slowly Than In The Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries.

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

That Is Why The Aethenian Law Makers So Decreed It A Crime For Any Citizen To Shrink From Controversy. I Am Asking Your Help In The Tremendous Task Of Informing And Alerting The American People. Confident That With Your Help, Man Will Be What He Was Born To Be, Free And Independent.

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

The Effort To Improve The Conditions Of Man, However, Is Not A Task For The Few. It Is The Task Of All Nations-acting Alone, Acting In Groups, Acting In The United Nations, 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. And Science, Technology And Education Can Be The Ally Of Every Nation.

The Highest Duty Of The Writer, The Composer, The Artist, Is To Remain True To Himself And To Let The Chips Fall Where They May.

And A Revolution Of Automation Finds Machines Replacing Men In The Mines And Mills Of America, Without Replacing Their Incomes Or Their Training Or Their Needs To Pay The Family Doctor, Grocer And Landlord.

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.

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 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.

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.

It Is Time For A New Generation Of Leadership, To Cope With New Problems And New Opportunities. For There Is A New World To Be Won.

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.

Too Often In The Past, We Have Thought Of The Artist As An Idler And Dilettante And Of The Lover Of Arts As Somehow Sissy And Effete. We Have Done Both An Injustice. The Life Of The Artist Is, In Relation To His Work, Stern And Lonely. He Has Labored Hard, Often Amid Deprivation, To Perfect His Skill. He Has Turned Aside From Quick Success In Order To Strip His Vision Of Everything Secondary Or Cheapening. His Working Life Is Marked By Intense Application And Intense Discipline.

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.

The Only Reason To Give A Speech Is To Change The World.

Our Progress As A Nation Can Be No Swifter Than Our Progress In Education. Our Requirements For World Leadership, Our Hopes For Economic Growth, And The Demands Of Citizenship Itself In An Era Such As This All Require The Maximum Development Of Every Young American's Capacity. The Human Mind Is Our Fundamental Resource.

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

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.

Our Constitution Wisely Assigns Both Joint And Separate Roles To Each Branch Of The Government; And A President And A Congress Who Hold Each Other In Mutual Respect Will Neither Permit Nor Attempt Any Trespass.

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

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. Every President Has Taken Comfort And Courage When Toldthat The Lord 'will Be With Thee. He Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee. Fear Not-neither Be Thou Dismayed.' Each Of Our Presidents In His Own Way Has Placed A Special Trust In God. Those Who Were Strongest Intellectually Were Also Strongest Spiritually.

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.

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

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.

Suspicion On One Side Breeds Suspicion On The Other, And New Weapons Beget Counter-weapons.

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.

Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

Genuine Peace Must Be The Product Of Many Nations, The Sum Of Many Acts. It Must Be Dynamic, Not Static, Changing To Meet The Challenge Of Each New Generation. For Peace Is A Process-a Way Of Solving Problems.

I Know Few Significant Questions Of Public Policy Which Can Safely Be Confided To Computers. In The End, The Hard Decisions Inescapably Involve Imponderables Of Intuition, Prudence, And Judgment.

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

Harvard Gave Me An Education, But Junior Chamber Gave Me An Education For Life.

If The Economy Of Today Were Operating Close To Capacity Levels With Little Unemployment, Or If A Sudden Change In Our Military Requirements Should Cause A Scramble For Men And Resources, Then I Would Oppose Tax Reductions As Irresponsible And Inflationary; And I Would Not Hesitate To Recommend A Tax Increase If That Were Necessary.

Never Have The Nations Of The World Had So Much To Lose, Or So Much To Gain. Together We Shall Save Our Planet, Or Together We Shall Perish In Its Flames.

For Man Holds In His Mortal Hands The Power To Abolish All Forms Of Human Poverty And All Forms Of Human Life. And Yet 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.

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.

Of All The Multitudes Who Throughout History Have Spoken For Human Dignity In Times Of Great Suffering And Loss, No Voice Is More Compelling Than That Of Anne Frank.

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

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence, And That Confidence Is Endangered When Ethical Standards Falter Or Appear To Falter.

Ethical Standards

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Victor Davis Hanson

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