The only reason to give a speech is to change the world.

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

As a great democratic society, we have a special responsibility to the arts. For art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. What freedom alone can bring is the liberation of the human mind and a spirit which finds its greatest flowering in the free society. I see of little more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than the full recognition of the place of the artist.

If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's.

A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.

No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue.

Irrational barriers and ancient prejudices fall quickly when the question of survival itself is at stake.