Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.
I was never accepted into certain parts of New England society because my grandfather was an Irish barkeep.
My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.
I want every American to be free to stand up for his rights, even if sometimes he has to sit down for them.
Intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.
I think the success of any school can be measured by the contribution the alumni make to our national life.
Every dollar released from taxation that is spared or invested will help create a new job and a new salary.
Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.
When things don't go well they like to blame presidents; and that's something that presidents are paid for.
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.
We believe that when men reach beyond this planet, they should leave their national differences behind them.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history.
Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being.
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
There is no city in the United States in which I can get a warmer welcome and fewer votes than Columbia, Ohio.
Each success brings with it the potential of failure and each failure brings with it the potential of success.
And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.
If I had to live my life over again, I would have a different father, a different wife and a different religion.
Foreign aid is a method by which the United States maintains a position of influence and control around the world
The Federal Budget can and should be made an instrument of prosperity and stability, not a deterrent to recovery.
We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.
Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes - one for peace and one for science.
Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.
All my life Ive known better than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid, to let them go ahead?
Truth is a tyrant-the only tyrant to whom we can give our allegiance. The service of truth is a matter of heroism.
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.
For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
Only in the case of the Negro has the melting pot failed to bring a minority into the full stream of American life.
The Greeks understood that mind and body must develop in harmounious proportions to produce a creative intelligence.
Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.
The leadership of the American Legion has not had a constructive thought for the benefit of this country since 1918.
Libraries should be open to all - except the censor. [Response to questionnaire in Saturday Review, October 29 1960]
In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics.
Each increase of tension has produced an increase of arms; each increase of arms has produced an increase of tension.
Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
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.
Just because we cannot see clearly te end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.
We in this country, in this generation, are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.
The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.
Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man.
Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
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.
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put up a wall to keep our people in.
I do not belive that Washington should do for the people wha they can do for themselves through local and private effort.
Someone always needs rescuing, yet there's only one person who ever seems to understand you. It's a lot like being Lassie.
If you look throughout human history ... the central epiphany of every religious tradition always occurs in the wilderness.
Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.