John F. Kennedy
"…So
let us not be blind in our differences- but let us also direct attention to our
common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.
And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world
safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is
that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all
cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal…"
June 10, 1963
"I
really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I
think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light
changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an
interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same
percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we
have salt in our blood, our sweat, and in our tears. We are tied to the ocean.
And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are
going back from whence we came."
Australian Ambassador's Dinner for the America's Cup Crews, September 14, 1962
"I
believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as
the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national
compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas…"
"…What
kind of peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana
enforced on the world by American weapons of war, not the peace of the grave or
the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace -- the kind of peace
that makes life on earth worth living -- and the kind that enables men and
nations to grow and to hope and 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 in all time….
"We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we must labor on -- not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace. "
"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."
Inaugural Address ,January 20, 1961
Let
us, if we can, step back from the shadows of war and seek out the way of peace.
And if that journey is a thousand miles, or even more, let history record that
we, in this land, at this time, took the first step.
Regarding the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ,July 26, 1963
"The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation."
Speech at opening of World Food Congress, 4 June 1963
"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."
Inaugural Address
"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
"We must use time as a tool, not as a couch."
"If scientific discovery has not been an unalloyed blessing, if it has conferred on mankind the power not only to create but also to annihilate, it has at the same time provided humanity with a supreme challenge and a supreme testing."
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names"
Humourous
"I think it's the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
At a dinner for Nobel prizewinners, 29 Apr. 1962
"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process."
"When I became President, what surprised me most was that things were just as bad as I'd been saying they were."
"Coast
to Coast with the Holy Ghost!"
Upon boarding the Caroline to commence his presidential campaign
"It was involuntary. They sank my
boat."
When asked how he became a war hero
"My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government -- he promised Dad he'd go straight."