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.
- John F. Kennedy
I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.
- John F. Kennedy
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
- John F. Kennedy
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.
- John F. Kennedy
A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed.
- John F. Kennedy
Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger's skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas.
- John F. Kennedy
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's.
- John F. Kennedy
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
- John F. Kennedy
A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
We stand today on the edge of a new frontier - the frontier of the 1960's - a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils - a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
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!'
- John F. Kennedy
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
- John F. Kennedy
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
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!
- John F. Kennedy
I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.
- John F. Kennedy
When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.
- John F. Kennedy
I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.
- John F. Kennedy
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.
- John F. Kennedy
When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.
- John F. Kennedy
When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
- John F. Kennedy
Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
- John F. Kennedy
Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes... can no longer be of concern to greatpowers alone.
- John F. Kennedy
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
- John F. Kennedy
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
- John F. Kennedy
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
- John F. Kennedy
Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.
- John F. Kennedy
Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.
- John F. Kennedy
For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
- John F. Kennedy
