John F. Kennedy Quotes



    “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 

    “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
- John F. Kennedy 

    “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
- 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 

    “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
- John F. Kennedy 

    “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “The best road to progress is freedom's road.”
- John F. Kennedy 

    “Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.”
- John F. Kennedy 

    “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”
- John F. Kennedy 

   “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”
- John F. Kennedy 

     “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.”
- 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 

     “Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
- John F. Kennedy 


   “The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.”
- 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 

    “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “A child miseducated is a child lost.”
- John F. Kennedy

   “Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.”
- John F. Kennedy

      “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
- John F. Kennedy 

     “I'm an idealist without illusions.”
- 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 

    “The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.”
- John F. Kennedy 

     “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
- John F. Kennedy 

     “Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”
- John F. Kennedy 


    “Sure it's a big job; but I don't know anyone who can do it better than I can.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
- John F. Kennedy 

     “My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.”
- John F. Kennedy 

    “It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.”
- John F. Kennedy 


     “We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.”
- 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 

     “We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.”
- John F. Kennedy