Robert F. Kennedy
"There are tasks that need to be done and done now. To a large degree it is in your hands to assume leadership, take initiative as it has been taken before
in our history, reach out boldly to do the things which are needed to be done, and, in that way, meet the challenge of out times."
Oct. 20, 1959
"...I am confident that whatever the problem, whatever the test, we are up to it. We have the strength, the courage, and the will, and we shall prevail."
Nov. 13, 1961
"...President
Kennedy's favorite quote was really from Dante:' The hottest places in hell are reserved
for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality'..."
Oct. 5, 1964
Columbia/Barnard Democratic Club
"...It is simple to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and gain. It is more comfortable to sit content in the easy approval of friends and of neighbors than to risk the friction and the controversy that comes with public affairs. It is easier to fall in step with the slogans of others than to march to the beat of the internal drummer- to make and stand on
judgments of your own. And it is far easier to accept and to stand on the past, than to fight for the answers of the future..."
U. of Mississippi law School Forum
March 18, 1966
"... We dissent from the monstrous
absurdity of a world where nations stand poised to destroy one another, and men must kill their fellow men.
We dissent from the sight of most of mankind living in poverty, stricken by disease, threatened by hunger, and doomed to an early death after a life of unremitting labor.
We dissent from cities which blunt our senses and turn the ordinary acts of daily life into a painful struggle.
We dissent from the willful, heedless destruction of natural pleasure and beauty.
We dissent from all those structures-of technology and of society itself-which strip from the individual the dignity and warmth of sharing in the common tasks of his community and country.."
University of California at Berkley
Oct. 22, 1966
"..But history will judge you, and, as the years pass, you will ultimately judge yourself, on the extent to which you have used your gifts to
lighten and enrich the lives of your fellow man. In your hands, not with presidents or leaders, is the future of your world and the fulfillment to the best qualities of your own spirit."
University of California at Berkley
Oct. 22, 1966
"This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of appetite for adventure
over the love of ease. ..."
University of Cape Town, S. Africa
June 6, 1966
"...we seek to cross the dark and storm-scarred seas of human passion and unreason, ignorance and anger..."
Columbus Day Dinner
Oct. 11, 1966
..."The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will
recognize the terrible truths of our existence..."
April 5, 1968
"...but neither can we afford to forget that the real constructive force in the world comes not from bombs, but from imaginative ideas, warm sympathies, and a generous spirit..."
University of Indiana
April 24, 1968