John F. Kennedy Quotes
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We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.
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The Secretary General, in a very real sense, is the servant of the General Assembly. Diminish his authority and you diminish the authority of the only body where all nations, regardless of power, are equal and sovereign. Until all the powerful are just, the weak will be secure only in the strength of this Assembly.
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I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none - who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him - and whose fulfillment of his Presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation.
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There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again.
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While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both.
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In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
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So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation’s future is at stake.
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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.
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A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.
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But life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met - obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.
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To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art - this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days.
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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.
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As I said this morning, I am not impressed by the opportunities open to popular fronts throughout the world. I do not believe that any democrat can successfully ride that tiger. But I do believe in the necessity of great powers working together to preserve the human race, or otherwise we can be destroyed.
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The United States has to move very fast to even stand still.
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Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
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Political sovereignty is but a mockery without the means of meeting poverty and illiteracy and disease. Self-determination is but a slogan if the future holds no hope.
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Secondly, what does justice require? In the end, it requires liberty.
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The steps I have indicated tonight are aimed at avoiding that war. To sum it all up: we seek peace - but we shall not surrender. That is the central meaning of this crisis, and the meaning of your government's policy. With your help, and the help of other free men, this crisis can be surmounted. Freedom can prevail and peace can endure.
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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.
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Now, in the thermonuclear age, any misjudgment on either side about the intentions of the other could rain more devastation in several hours than has been wrought in all the wars of human history.
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Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man.
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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.
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War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
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I would say to the leaders of the Soviet Union, and to their people, that if either of our countries is to be fully secure, we need a much better weapon than the H-bomb - a weapon better than ballistic missiles or nuclear submarines - and that better weapon is peaceful cooperation.