John F. Kennedy Quotes
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to as JFK was born into a wealthy, political family on the 29th of May, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. He was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination.
John F. Kennedy negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. On November 22, 1963. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas while riding in a motorcade.
Below, we have compiled an array of popular John F. Kennedy quotes and sayings.
80 John F. Kennedy Quotes About Life, Freedom & Leadership
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. __John F. Kennedy Quote
One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.__John F. Kennedy Quote
A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality.__John F. Kennedy Quote
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days . . .nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
The rising tide lifts all the boats.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us accept our own responsibility for the future.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside__John F. Kennedy Quote
No American is ever made better off by pulling a fellow American down, and all of us are made better off whenever any one of us is made better off.__John F. Kennedy Quote
When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Things don’t just happen. They are made to happen.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.__John F. Kennedy Quote
We, in this country, in this generation, are – by destiny rather than by choice – the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of the nation, is close to the center of a nation’s purpose – and is a test to the quality of a nation’s civilization.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The greater our knowledge increases the greater our ignorance unfolds.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.__John F. Kennedy Quote
When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The 1930s, Kennedy said, ‘taught us a clear lesson; aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life.__John F. Kennedy Quote
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Just because we cannot see clearly the end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Whether they be young in spirit, or young in age, the members of the Democratic Party must never lose that youthful zest for new ideas and for a better world, which has made us great.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.__John F. Kennedy Quote
There is, in addition to a courage with which men die; a courage by which men must live.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The most powerful single force in the world today is neither Communism nor Capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile — it is man’s eternal desire to be free and independent.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.__John F. Kennedy Quote
We need men who can dream of things that never were.__John F. Kennedy Quote
We cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.__John F. Kennedy Quote
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. __John F. Kennedy Quote
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 Quote
The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity.__John F. Kennedy Quote
We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Libraries should be open to all – except the censor. __John F. Kennedy Quote
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Mankind must put an end to war – or war will put an end to mankind. __John F. Kennedy Quote
Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color__John F. Kennedy Quote
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.__John F. Kennedy Quote
I look forward to 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 Quote
We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.__John F. Kennedy Quote
If not us, who? If not now, when?__John F. Kennedy Quote
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.__John F. Kennedy Quote
I was born an American, I live like an American, I will die an American.__John F. Kennedy Quote
There are costs and risks to a program of action, but they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable .. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.__John F. Kennedy Quote
So let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof__John F. Kennedy Quote
Great crisis produce great men and great deeds of courage.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The very word Secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society.__John F. Kennedy Quote
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.__John F. Kennedy Quote
The supreme reality of our time is the vulnerability of our planet.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life, I find. __John F. Kennedy Quote
A child miseducated is a child lost.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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 futures, and we are all mortal.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.__John F. Kennedy Quote
Liberty without Learning is always in peril and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.__John F. Kennedy Quote
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.__John F. Kennedy Quote
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.__John F. Kennedy Quote