The poet and the politician have this in common: their greatness depends on the courage with which they face the challenges of life.
John F. KennedyIt is in the American tradition to stand up for one's rights--even if the new way to stand up for one's rights is to sit down.
John F. KennedyA full scale nuclear exchange, lasting less than 60 minutes...could wipe out more than 300 million Americans, Europeans, and Russians, as well as untold numbers elsewhere. And the survivors-as Chairman Khrushchev warned the Communist Chinese, `the survivors would envy the dead.' For they would inherit a world so devastated by explosions and poison and fire that today we cannot conceive of its horrors.
John F. KennedyLet us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.
John F. KennedyWe shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty... All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin... And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy