Background Image

...

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.

-John F. Kennedy

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

We Must Face The

John F. Kennedy

...

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.

Views: 80895

Topic

More From John F. Kennedy

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

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

I Want To Emphasize In The Great Concentration Which We Now Place Upon Scientists And Engineers How Much We Still Need The Men And Women Educated In The Liberal Tradition, Willing To Take The Long Look, Undisturbed By Prejudices And Slogans Of The Moment, Who Attempt To Make An Honest Judgment On Difficult Events.

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.

The Courage Of Life Is Often A Less Dramatic Spectacle Than The Courage Of A Final Moment; But It Is No Less A Magnificent Mixture Of Triumph And Tragedy.

The Success Of This Government, And Thus The Success Of Our Nation, Depends In The Last Analysis Upon The Quality.of Our Career Services. The Legislation Enacted By The Congress, As Well As The Decisions Made By Me And By The Department And Agency Heads, Must All Be Implemented By The Career Men And Women In The Federal Service. In Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Science And Technology, And A Host Of Other Fields, They Face Problems Of Unprecedented Importance And Perplexity. We Are All Dependent On Their Sense Of Loyalty And Responsibility As Well As Their Competence And Energy.

Collective Bargaining Has Always Been The Bedrock Of The American Labor Movement. I Hope That You Will Continue To Anchor Your Movement To This Foundation. Free Collective Bargaining Is Good For The Entire Nation. In My View, It Is The Only Alternative To State Regulation Of Wages And Prices - A Path Which Leads Far Down The Grim Road Of Totalitarianism. Those Who Would Destroy Or Further Limit The Rights Of Organized Labor - Those Who Would Cripple Collective Bargaining Or Prevent Organization Of The Unorganized - Do A Disservice To The Cause Of Democracy.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

We Want To Be First; Not First If, Not First But; But First!

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.

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.

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

A Nation That Is Afraid To Let Its People Judge The Truth And Falsehood In An Open Market Is A Nation That Is Afraid Of Its People.

What's The Use Of Being Irish If The World Doesn't Break Your Heart?

Ireland And The Irish

Compromise Does Not Mean Cowardice.

Too Often We... Enjoy The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

The American Labor Movement Has Consistently Demonstrated Its Devotion To The Public Interest. It Is, And Has Been, Good For All America.

Labour Movement

It Is Insane That Two Men, Sitting On Opposite Sides Of The World, Should Be Able To Decide To Bring An End To Civilization.

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.

Domestic Policy Can Only Defeat Us; Foreign Policy Can Kill Us.

Foreign Affairs

You're In There With Me. Personally.

Once You Say You're Going To Settle For Second, That's What Happens To You In Life.

We Shall Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden, To Assure The Survival And The Success Of Liberty.

The Unity Of Freedom Has Never Relied On Uniformity Of Opinion.

Our Deep Spiritual Confidence That This Nation Will Survive The Perils Of Today - Which May Well Be With Us For Decades To Come - Compels Us To Invest In Our Nation's Future, To Consider And Meet Our Obligations To Our Children And The Numberless Generations That Will Follow.

A Great Change Is At Hand, And Our Task, Our Obligation, Is To Make That Revolution, That Change, Peaceful And Constructive For All.

Israel Was Not Created In Order To Disappear - Israel Will Endure And Flourish. It Is The Child Of Hope And The Home Of The Brave. It Can Neither Be Broken By Adversity Nor Demoralized By Success. It Carries The Shield Of Democracy And It Honors The Sword Of Freedom.

If We Cannot Now End Our Differences, At Least We Can Help Make The World Safe For Diversity.

I Am Talking About Genuine Peace, The Kind Of Peace That Makes Life On Earth Worth Living, The Kind That Enables Men And Nations To Grow And To Hope And To Build A Better Life For Their Children - Not Merely Peace For Americans But Peace For All Men And Women - Not Merely Peace In Our Time But Peace For All Time.

In That Case, There Is No Time To Lose. Plant It This Afternoon!

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.

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

Mankind Must Put An End To War Before War Puts An End To Mankind.

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

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.

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

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

Peace Is A Process, A Way Of Solving Problems

Problem Solving

Sincerity Is Always Subject To Proof.

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

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

Without Debate, Without Criticism No Administration And No Country Can Succeed And No Republic Can Survive.

Failure Has No Friends.

We Must Use Time As A Tool, Not As A Couch.

Sometimes It Just Amazes Me How Many People Desperately Want To Protect My Personal Information. Ten Thousand Reflections Hide The True Gem. Those Who Make Peaceful Revolution Impossible Will Make Violent Revolution Inevitable.

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.

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.'

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.

Each Success Brings With It The Potential Of Failure And Each Failure Brings With It The Potential Of Success.

We Must Seek, Above All, A World Of Peace; A World In Which Peoples Dwell Together In Mutual Respect And Work Together In Mutual Regard.

Working Together

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

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.

There Is Nothing More Certain And Unchanging Than Uncertainty And Change.

The Leadership Of The American Legion Has Not Had A Constructive Thought For The Benefit Of This Country Since 1918.

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.

This Is A Great Country And Requires A Good Deal Of All Of Us, So I Can Imagine Nothing More Important Than For All Of You To Continue To Work In Public Affairs And Be Interested In Them, Not Only To Bring Up A Family, But Also Give Part Of Your Time To Your Community, Your State, And Your Country.

I Think 'hail To The Chief' Has A Nice Ring To It.

I Look Forward To An America Which Will Not Be Afraid Of Grace And Beauty...an America Which Will Reward Achievement In The Arts As We Reward Achievement In Business Or Statecraft.

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.

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.

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

Guiding Principles

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 .

President Roosevelt And President Truman And President Eisenhower Had The Same Experience, They All Made The Effort To Get Along With The Russians. But Every Time, Finally It Failed. And The Reason It Failed Was Because The Communists Are Determined To Destroy Us, And Regardless Of What Hand Of Friendship We May Hold Out Or What Arguments We May Put Up, The Only Thing That Will Make That Decisive Difference Is The Strength Of The United States.

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... All This Will Not Be Finished In The First 100 Days. Nor Will It Be Finished In The First 1000 Days, Nor In The Life Of This Administration, Nor Even Perhaps In Our Lifetime On This Planet. But Let Us Begin... And So, My Fellow Americans: Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You - Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.

Arms Alone Are Not Enough To Keep The Peace. It Must Be Kept By Men.

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.

Hold Fast To The Best Of The Past And Move Fast To The Best Of The Future.

Lofty Words Cannot Construct An Alliance Or Maintain It; Only Concrete Deeds Can Do That.

I'm 43 Years Old And I'm The Healthiest Candidate For The Presidency Of The United States. You've Travelled With Me Enough To Know That I'm Not Going To Die In Office.

The Weapons Of War Must Be Abolished Before They Abolish Us.

Nuclear Disarmament

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

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.

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.

The Best Road To Progress Is Freedom's Road.

Bullfight Critics Row On Row Fill The Enormous Plaza De Toros But Only One Is There Who Knows And He Is The One Who Fights The Bull.

Victory Has A Thousand Fathers, But Defeat Is An Orphan.

Lower Rates Of Taxation Will Stimulate Economic Activity And So Raise The Levels Of Personal And Corporate Income As To Yield Within A Few Years An Increased - Not A Reduced - Flow Of Revenues To The Federal Government.

This Country Was Founded By Men And Women Who Were Dedicated Or Came To Be Dedicated To Two Propositions; First, A Strong Religious Conviction, And Secondly A Recognition That This Conviction Could Flourish Only Under A System Of Freedom.

When Consumers Purchase More Goods, Plants Use More Of Their Capacity, Men Are Hired Instead Of Laid Off, Investment Increases, And Profits Are High. Corporate Tax Rates Must Also Be Cut To Increase Incentives And The Availability Of Investment Capital.

Every Area Of Trouble Gives Out A Ray Of Hope; And The One Unchangeable Certainty Is That Nothing Is Certain Or Unchangeable.

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

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.

We Can Say With Some Assurance That, Although Children May Be The Victims Of Fate, They Will Not Be The Victims Of Our Neglect.

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

History Will Never Accept Difficulties As An Excuse.

The Basic Problems Facing The World Today Are Not Susceptible To A Military Solution.

I Think This Is The Most Extraordinary Collection Of Talent, Of Human Knowledge, That Has Ever Been Gathered At The White House - With The Possible Exception Of When Thomas Jefferson Dined Alone.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

So Let Us Here Resolve That Dag Hammarskjold Did Not Live, Or Die, In Vain. Let Us Call A Truce To Terror. Let Us Invoke The Blessings Of Peace. And, As We Build An International Capacity To Keep Peace, Let Us Join In Dismantling The National Capacity To Wage War.

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.

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

It Is With Great Satisfaction That I Have Signed Into Law The Social Security Amendments Of 1961. They Represent An Additional Step Toward Eliminating Many Of The Hardships Resulting From Old Age, Disability, Or The Death Of The Family Wage-earner. A Nation's Strength Lies In The Well-being Of Its People. The Social Security Program Plays An Important Part In Providing For Families, Children, And Older Persons In Time Of Stress, But It Cannot Remain Static. Changes In Our Population, In Our Working Habits, And In Our Standard Of Living Require Constant Revision.

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.

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.

We Celebrate The Past To Awaken The Future.

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

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.

Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

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.

No One Has Been Barred On Account Of His Race From Fighting Or Dying For America, There Are No White Or Colored Signs On The Foxholes Or Graveyards Of Battle.

There Is Always Inequality In Life. Some Men Are Killed In A War And Some Men Are Wounded And Some Men Never Leave The Country. Life Is Unfair.

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.

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

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

My Call Is Not To Those Who Believe They Belong To The Past. My Call Is To Those Who Believe In The Future.

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.

Easy Money, Sudden Fortunes, Increasingly Powerful Political Machines And Blatant Corruption Transformed Much Of The Nation; And The Senate, As Befits A Democratic Legislative Body, Accurately Represented The Nation.

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

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

One-third Of The World, It Has Been Said, May Be Free- -but One-third Is The Victim Of Cruel Repression--and The Other One- Third Is Rocked By The Pangs Of Poverty, Hunger And Envy. More Energy Is Released By The Awakening Of These New Nations Than By The Fission Of The Atom Itself.

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

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.

I Can Evade Questions Without Help; What I Need Is Answers

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 Poet And The Politician Have This In Common: Their Greatness Depends On The Courage With Which They Face The Challenges Of Life.

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.

A Tax Cut Means Higher Family Income And Higher Business Profits And A Balanced Federal Budget....as The National Income Grows, The Federal Government Will Ultimately End Up With More Revenues. Prosperity Is The Real Way To Balance Our Budget. By Lowering Tax Rates, By Increasing Jobs And Income, We Can Expand Tax Revenues And Finally Bring Our Budget Into Balance.

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.

Unconditional War Can No Longer Lead To Unconditional Victory. It Can No Longer Serve To Settle Disputes. It Can No Longer Concern The Great Powers Alone. For A Nuclear Disaster, Spread By Wind And Water And Fear, Could Well Engulf The Great And The Small, The Rich And The Poor, The Committed And The Uncommitted Alike. Mankind Must Put An End To War--or War Will Put An End To Mankind.

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

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.

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.

If The Self-discipline Of The Free Cannot Match The Iron Discipline Of The Mailed Fist, In Economic, Political, Scientific, And All The Other Kinds Of Struggles, As Well As The Military, Then The Peril To Freedom Will Continue To Rise.

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

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.

Let Us Not Despair But Act. 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.

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.

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

I Look Forward To An America Which Will Not Be Afraid Of Grace And Beauty.

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.

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.

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.

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 Decided Long Ago That The Dangers Of Excessive And Unwarranted Concealment Of Pertinent Facts Far Outweighed The Dangers Which Are Cited To Justify It. Even Today, There Is Little Value In Opposing The Threat Of A Closed Society By Imitating Its Arbitrary Restrictions. Even Today, There Is Little Value In Insuring The Survival Of Our Nation If Our Traditions Do Not Survive With It.

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.

Aeschylus And Plato Are Remembered Today Long After The Triumphs Of Imperial Athens Are Gone. Dante Outlived The Ambitions Of Thirteenth Century Florence. Goethe Stands Serenely Above The Politics Of Germany, And I Am Certain That After The Dust Of Centuries Has Passed Over Cities, We Too Will Be Remembered Not For Victories Or Defeats In Battle Or In Politics, But For Our Contribution To The Human Spirit.

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

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.

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.

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

There Is No City In The United States In Which I Can Get A Warmer Welcome And Fewer Votes Than Columbia, Ohio.

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.

Not Everyone Has Equal Abilities, But Everyone Should Have Equal Opportunity For Education.

America Has Tossed Its Cap Over The Wall Of Space.

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

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

If All Of You Had Voted The Other Way - There's About 5500 Of You Here Tonight - I Would Not Be The President Of The United States.

A Nation Reveals Itself Not Only By The Men It Produces But Also By The Men It Honors, The Men It Remembers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Above All, We Are Coming To Understand That The Arts Incarnate The Creativity Of A Free People.

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.

Forgive Your Enemies, But Never Forget Their Names.

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

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.

Harry Truman Once Said, 'there Are 14 Or 15 Million Americans Who Have The Resources To Have Representatives In Washington To Protect Their Interests, And That The Interests Of The Great Mass Of The Other People - The 150 Or 160 Million - Is The Responsibility Of The President Of The United States, And I Propose To Fulfill It.'

When I Was Growing Up I Had Three Wishes. I Wanted To Be A Lindbergh-type Hero, Learn Chinese, And Become A Member Of The Algonquin Round Table.

[high Income Tax Rates] Not Only Check Consumption But Discourage Investment And Encourage...the Avoidance Of Taxes [rather] Than The Production Of Goods.[...]our Present Tax System...reduces The Financial Incentives For Personal Effort, Investment, And Risk-taking.

As A Great Democratic Society, We Have A Special Responsibility To The Arts. For Art Is The Great Democrat, Calling Forth Creative Genius From Every Sector Of Society, Disregarding Race Or Religion Or Wealth Or Color. What Freedom Alone Can Bring Is The Liberation Of The Human Mind And A Spirit Which Finds Its Greatest Flowering In The Free Society. I See Of Little More Importance To The Future Of Our Country And Our Civilization Than The Full Recognition Of The Place Of The Artist.

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

We Cannot Expect That Everyone, To Use The Phrase Of A Decade Ago, Will Talk Sense To The American People. But We Can Hope That Fewer People Will Listen To Nonsense. And The Notion That This Nation Is Headed For Defeat Through Deficit, Or That Strength Is But A Matter Of Slogans, Is Nothing But Just Plain Nonsense.

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

We Are Not Afraid To Entrust The American People With Unpleasant Facts, Foreign Ideas, Alien Philosophies, And Competitive Values.

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

American History

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!

I Am Flatly Opposed To Appointment Of An Ambassador To The Vatican. Whatever Advantages It Might Have In Rome - And I'm Not Convinced Of These - They Would Be More Than Offset By The Divisive Effect At Home.

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.

My Brother Bob Doesn't Want To Be In Government - He Promised Dad He'd Go Straight.

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

It Is Our Task In Our Time And In Our Generation, To Hand Down Undiminished To Those Who Come After Us, As Was Handed Down To Us By Those Who Went Before, The Natural Wealth And Beauty Which Is Ours.

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

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

Privilege Is Here, And With Privilege Goes Responsibility.

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.

The Great Enemy Of Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie--deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest--but The Myth--persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic. Too Often We Hold Fast To The Cliches Of Our Forebears. We Subject All Facts To A Prefabricated Set Of Interpretations. We Enjoy The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant, Or Jewish - Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

Today, We Need A Nation Of Minutemen, Citizens Who Are Not Only Prepared To Take Arms, But Citizens Who Regard The Preservation Of Freedom As The Basic Purpose Of Their Daily Life And Who Are Willing To Consciously Work And Sacrifice For That Freedom.

Foreign Aid Is A Method By Which The United States Maintains A Position Of Influence And Control Around The World

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.

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 Exploration Of Space Will Go Ahead, Whether We Join In It Or Not, And It Is One Of The Great Adventures Of All Time, And No Nation Which Expects To Be The Leader Of Other Nations Can Expect To Stay Behind In This Race For Space.

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.

Every Dollar Released From Taxation That Is Spared Or Invested Will Help Create A New Job And A New Salary.

Trending Author

Marjane Satrapi

J. Edgar Hoover

Category