If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

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.

History will never accept difficulties as an excuse.

I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.

Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.